{"id":610486,"date":"2026-04-28T03:19:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T03:19:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/610486\/"},"modified":"2026-04-28T03:19:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T03:19:08","slug":"dodgers-edwin-diaz-confident-in-return-to-form-after-surgery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/610486\/","title":{"rendered":"Dodgers’ Edwin D\u00edaz confident in return to form after surgery"},"content":{"rendered":"

LOS ANGELES —Dodgers<\/a>closer Edwin D\u00edaz<\/a>, five days removed from surgery, called finding loose bodies in his elbow “a best-case scenario” and said he is “100%” confident he will return to his All-Star form this season.<\/p>\n

“Right now, just a couple days after surgery, I can move my arm really good,” D\u00edaz said Monday. “My range of motion is completely back to normal, so that’s something I like. Just get stronger and be ready for the second half.”<\/p>\n

D\u00edaz described his arm as feeling “tired and tight” when he took the mound at theColorado Rockies<\/a>on April 19, following an eight-day layoff predicated largely on lingering pain in his surgically repaired right knee. After an outing that saw him get charged with three earned runs without recording an out, the Dodgers sent D\u00edaz to imaging, which revealed five fragments of bone or cartilage floating around his right elbow.<\/p>\n

D\u00edaz, 32, said he has had loose bodies in his elbow since getting drafted in 2012 but that they never caused pain until recently. The Dodgers hope that by removing them now, D\u00edaz can return in July or August.<\/p>\n

D\u00edaz allowed just one run over his first five appearances this season but proceeded to allow three in each of his past two. All told, his four-seam fastball is averaging 95.7 mph, more than a tick down from his 97.2 mph average from 2025. D\u00edaz believes the loose bodies in his elbow limited the range of motion in his arm, which might have impacted his velocity.<\/p>\n

“Now, after surgery, I’m getting close to what I was,” said D\u00edaz, who expects to resume throwing two weeks after getting his stitches removed.<\/p>\n

The Dodgers signed D\u00edaz to a three-year, $69 million contract in December, swiping him from theNew York Mets<\/a>to fill their biggest offseason need. For the foreseeable future, though, Los Angeles will continue to mix and match in the ninth inning, giving the likes of Tanner Scott<\/a>, Blake Treinen<\/a> and Alex Vesia<\/a> save opportunities.<\/p>\n

D\u00edaz will only be able to watch.<\/p>\n

“That sucks, you know, to miss the first half with a team,” D\u00edaz said. “I’m new with this team. 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.”<\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2026 ESPN Internet Ventures. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOS ANGELES —Dodgerscloser Edwin D\u00edaz, five days removed from surgery, called finding loose bodies in his elbow “a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":610487,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[265182,352,2323,363,3,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-610486","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-265182","9":"tag-espn","10":"tag-los-angeles-dodgers","11":"tag-mlb","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610486","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=610486"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610486\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/610487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=610486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=610486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=610486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}