SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Gavin Stone's long road back from major shoulder surgery is not over yet.
Stone pitched one inning against the Cleveland Guardians last Tuesday - his first game action since August 2024 - and followed it with a bullpen session days later. After that session, he experienced renewed discomfort in his shoulder and has been shut down from throwing indefinitely. It's unlikely he will be able to restart and build up in time for Opening Day now.
"So right now, we put him on ice and are trying to let the soreness dissipate," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. "Given everything he's gone through with the shoulder, we wanted to make sure we push 'Pause.' So I don't know when he's gonna start throwing again. But it is a setback, unfortunately.
"With the shoulder soreness, we're just trying to be thoughtful or mindful for Gavin. And right now, he's trying to get everything to calm down."
After his one inning against the Guardians, Stone acknowledged that it was the day-after throwing sessions that still presented the biggest challenge.
"The recovering part of it has been the hardest, especially going through spring training," he said last week. "The days that I've thrown lives (batting practice), bullpens - today felt great but the recovery part is still a grind. I will be sore for sure but I think it'll be a good soreness."
Stone led the Dodgers in innings pitched in 2024 (140⅓) but after an August start against the Arizona Diamondbacks he was no longer able to ignore a sore shoulder and went in for an examination. He didn't realize how bad things were.
"I didn't," he admitted earlier this spring. "Honestly, Arizona was my last outing and I felt pretty good. It would get tired in between innings but it felt good. I never really considered that it would be as bad as it was. When I got the MRI back, it was kind of a shock. But (Dr. Neal) ElAttrache does a great job. I'm very thankful for all he did."
ElAttrache did a lot. He had to repair the labrum, rotator cuff and shoulder capsule.
"It's unexpected. I think that's an honest answer," Roberts said of the current setback. "He's worked so hard to get back to where he was, pitching in a game. We're excited about that. He threw the baseball really well. It was one inning, so it wasn't too taxing. So to come back in his 'pen and not feel good, that's disappointing. And it's not from lack of effort. Just disappointing."
With Stone joining Blake Snell on the sidelines to start the season, the Dodgers could have multiple openings in their season-opening rotation alongside Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Shohei Ohtani, Roki Sasaki and Tyler Glasnow. Emmet Sheehan has the inside track for one of those spots (though he hasn't pitched in a game yet due to an early-spring illness).
Roberts said Kyle Hurt is viewed as a potential piece of the Dodgers' bullpen and is not being considered for a spot in the rotation. That leaves River Ryan, Justin Wrobleski and journeyman Cole Irvin (who spent last season pitching in South Korea) as the most likely candidates to make starts in April.
Ryan made four starts for the Dodgers in 2024 then underwent Tommy John surgery around the same time Stone was getting his shoulder reconstructed. In addition to rehabbing his elbow, Ryan used the time to put on weight and take a deep dive into his pitching metrics.
"I was just really trying to figure out a couple things - like really figuring out what pitches work for me in what counts. What are pitches that I can really rely on?" he said.
"I would throw certain pitches in certain counts that didn't need to be thrown. Like, if I'm in a middle count like 1-1, I would throw something that was a strikeout pitch - like a curveball in the dirt or something to get a swing where I could throw a fastball, cutter, slider that I get a swing on or a sinker that I get a swing on. I'd much rather throw two, three pitches in an at-bat and get a weak ground ball out than throw four, five, six pitches and potentially walk someone or even strike them out which just kills the pitch count throughout the game. Trying to get batters out as fast as I can is what I really dove into. What pitches in my arsenal really work to execute."
The added weight he hopes will make it easier for him to maintain his stuff throughout an outing and a season. From a playing weight of 195 in the past, Ryan bulked up to as much as 230 before settling on 220 as the weight he wants to maintain now.
"I've always thought when I'm heavier it takes the workload of throwing a baseball to an easier level as far as my body is able to just withstand throwing harder," Ryan said. "The old saying is 'Mass equals gas.' Strictly from a health standpoint,I was 195 and I really didn't have much body fat on me at all.Definitely didn't have the muscle I have on me now to absorb some of the shock."
Freed from the monotony of Tommy John rehab, Ryan tries not to focus on winning a spot in the season-opening rotation, aware of how many starters the Dodgers will need over the course of the season - last year 17 different pitchers started at least one regular-season game for the Dodgers.
"I definitely don't try to think anything past what I can control," he said."They're going to use me the way they're going to use me.Obviously,the goal is to be a starter and make the team out of camp;make the starting rotation.But I can't control that.I can only control what I do out there on the mound.
"I'm definitely going to do my best to be ready when my number is called."
Four off days in the first three weeks of the season could mitigate the Dodgers' need for a sixth starter, though they do plan to go with a six-man rotation most of the time.
The Dodgers made their first cuts of spring training on Monday, reassigning 11 players to minor-league camp - right-handers Patrick Copen, Jerming Rosario, Nick Frasso and Jose Rodriguez, left-handers Adam Serwinowski and Luke Fox, catchers Nelson Quiroz and Chuckie Robinson, infielders Keston Hiura and Matt Gorski and outfielder Chris Newell.