Telepeer

Dodgers’ Edwin Diaz ‘100%’ confident he will return at full strength in 2nd half

April 28, 2026

LOS ANGELES — Edwin Diaz wasn’t surprised when an MRI a little over a week ago revealed loose bodies in his right elbow. He’d been living with them for awhile.

The surprise was that they had finally started affecting him.

“They always were showing up there. That’s something a lot of pitchers have. Every pitcher has something in his arm,” Diaz said Monday afternoon, stitches and a bandage now on that elbow after surgery to remove “five loose bodies.”

“I knew since 2012 (when he first signed as a professional) I had it and I never felt something weird in my arm. This is my first time in my career I’ve felt my arm was sore or whatever. When we did the image, it showed up there and I talked to the doctor and I think that was the best decision to make. Just, let’s do it and be ready for the second half.”

Last week’s elbow surgery was an unexpected twist after Diaz had complained about his right knee bothering him. Surgically repaired in 2023 after he injured it during the 2023 World Baseball Classic, the suspicion was the knee was the reason his velocity had dipped this season.

“I think my knee, my leg was a little bit tired,” Diaz said Monday. “We worked on that, got better, and I threw a couple bullpens and was feeling good.”

Diaz went nine days without pitching in a game. When he returned to the mound at Coors Field, it did not go well. The velocity continued to dip and he didn’t retire any of the four batters he faced in the Sunday game in Colorado. After the game, he told the Dodgers’ medical staff that he felt “weird.”

“My arm. I was feeling tired and tight. I didn’t know it was the loose bodies,” he said. “I just felt tired, tight. I told them, and they sent me to get some imaging, and the loose body showed up there. And I think that was the best-case scenario, removing it now and being ready for the second half of the season.”

Five days out from surgery, Diaz said he can already feel improvement in his elbow.

“I feel really good. I can move my arm really good right now,” he said. “I’m really surprised, because surgery was on Wednesday, and today is Monday, and I can move my arm really good.

“I think my range of motion was a little bit shorter than normal. Now, after surgery, I’m getting close to what I was, what I am when I was good. So I think that maybe that’s why the velo was a little bit inconsistent.”

Diaz won’t start a throwing program until after the stitches are removed in a couple of weeks. But he is “100%” confident he will be back at full strength in the second half of the season.

“That sucks you know? To miss the first half with a team. I’m new with this team,” said Diaz, who signed a three-year, $69 million contract with the Dodgers last winter, the highest average-annual value ever given to a reliever. “But that’s something I can’t control.

“Everyone here is supporting me. All of my teammates – they’re supporting me, they’re happy that I’m doing way better than before. They just can’t wait to see me on the mound in the second half. They say ‘Take your time. We need you in October.’ But I want to come back as soon as possible and help this team to win games.”

ONE-WAY DAY?

Shohei Ohtani will make a pitching start on five days of rest Tuesday. It is the first time this year and only the third time in 19 regular-season starts with the Dodgers that he will take the mound with less than six days of rest between starts.

That could affect the Dodgers’ lineup Tuesday or Wednesday.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Ohtani could “potentially” pitch only on Tuesday and not be in the lineup to hit. Two starts ago on April 15 against the New York Mets, Ohtani pitched but was not in the lineup to hit for the first time since May 2021.

The Dodgers play a day game on Wednesday and Roberts “it’s up for consideration” whether Ohtani will play and hit in one or both of those games. The decision will be based on estimating “the effect that it might have on him in the ensuing days” after pitching.

Roberts said he hopes Ohtani doesn’t pay attention to the speculation about whether he should hit on days he pitches.

“Hopefully he doesn’t put too much weight into it,” Roberts said. “I don’t talk to him too much about it, to be quite honest. But he is well aware of what’s being said about him. But again, I think right now, all he’s thinking about is today. And then at some point in time I’ll have a conversation with him (about Tuesday and Wednesday).”

MOOKIE PROGRESS

Shortstop Mookie Betts is progressing “really well” in his recovery from an oblique injury and is “getting close” to hitting on the field and then going out on a rehab assignment, Roberts said.

“I haven’t heard definitively on when he’s going to get sent out, when and if – most likely when,” Roberts said. “So I’m hesitant to say when. It’s more day to day.”

Roberts said the expectation is Betts will take some live at-bats in simulated-game settings before going on a brief minor-league rehab assignment.

“That’s kind of what I’m waiting to hear,” Roberts said.

ALSO

Outfielder Esteury Ruiz received his 2025 World Series championship ring from Roberts before Monday’s game. Ruiz played 19 games with the Dodgers last season and was traded to the Miami Marlins in December.

UP NEXT

Marlins (RHP Janson Junk, 1-2, 3.67 ERA) at Dodgers (RHP Shohei Ohtani, 2-0, 0.38 ERA), Tuesday, 7:10 p.m., SportsNet LA, 570 AM

Orange County Register

News Details

Dodgers’ Edwin Diaz ‘100%’ confident he will return at full strength in 2nd half

ONE-WAY DAY?

MOOKIE PROGRESS

ALSO

UP NEXT

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

News

CONTACT INFO

QUICK LINKS

SERVICES

CURRENT NEWS