When Will Clayton Kershaw Be Able to Pitch For the Dodgers This Year?

Kershaw is still recovering from offseason surgery.

Multiple reports confirmed on Tuesday that the Los Angeles Dodgers are re-signing left-handed pitcher Clayton Kershaw for the 2024 season. Now, there's only one remaining question: When will Kershaw be ready to play?

Following the 2023 season, Kershaw underwent shoulder surgery to fix the gleno-humeral ligaments and capsule in his left shoulder in November. He will not be ready to return at the start of the season, but said in his initial statement that he was hoping to return to play at some point in the summer.

The most likely scenario, assuming there are no setbacks, is that Kershaw will be back sometime after the All-Star break, which is from July 15-18.

A return in August appears to make the most sense, giving him around two months of a regular season before postseason baseball begins.

If everyone is healthy, the Dodgers rotation could look something like this in September:

1. Yoshinobu Yamamoto
2. Tyler Glasnow
3. Walker Buehler
4. Clayton Kershaw
5. Bobby Miller
6. James Paxton

That is about as deep and dominant as a rotation gets.

— Noah Camras (@noahcamras) February 6, 2024

This surgery should help Kershaw recover from an injury that hurt his performance late last season.

After returning from the injured list in early August, Kershaw wasn't able to pitch more than five innings until his last start of the regular season, when he went 5.1 innings.

Then, in the postseason, the wheels fell off for Kershaw, as he allowed six earned runs in 0.1 innings in the worst postseason start of his career.

Whenever Kershaw returns to the mound next, he should be fully healthy, which is a great sign for everyone involved.

When healthy, the 35-year-old proved he is still one of the better pitchers in the game, putting up a 2.46 ERA in the 2023 regular season.

If all goes well, Kershaw should look like his normal self when he returns to the field in 2024 in Dodger Blue.