After Dodgers starter Zack Greinke suffered a broken collarbone after Padres outfielder Carlos Quentin charged the mound on April 11, estimates had Greinke missing eight weeks -- a mid-June return if everything went according to plan.
Greinke is ahead of schedule, though, according to MLB.com’s Ken Gurnick:He appeared to throw all of his pitches Saturday while being watched by pitching coach Rick Honeycutt, manager Don Mattingly and medical director Stan Conte, who monitored how hard Greinke was throwing.
Midway through, Mattingly stood in the batter’s box and Greinke worked on hitting different locations.
Teammates Chris Capuano, A.J. Ellis and Clayton Kershaw also were interested observers as Greinke showed no discomfort from the injury, making roughly 40 pitches.The Dodgers would love to have Greinke back earlier than expected as their rotation has been a revolving door as pitcher after pitcher has fallen by the wayside. Presently, seven Dodger pitchers including Greinke are on the DL.
