Joe Kelly still “a ways away” from appearing in a game

There are still a number of names on the 40-man roster we haven’t seen appear in a game yet this spring. One of them is one of the key pieces in the Dodgers bullpen, Joe Kelly.

According to manager Dave Roberts, it looks like it could be some time before we see Kelly appear in a Spring Training game. When speaking with the media on Sunday morning, Roberts said that the reliever is still “a ways away” from returning. He didn’t go into much more detail, but said it looks like we won’t be seeing Kelly any time soon.

It’s been a strange start to camp for Kelly so far. Early on he was sent home after feeling under the weather, and a few weeks ago he was reportedly dealing with soreness and wasn’t quite where he wanted to be.

With the season quickly approaching and Kelly looking like he’s nowhere close to seeing game action, he could potentially be starting the 2021 campaign on the Injured List.

Other news and notes

• Cody Bellinger played three innings in center field early Sunday in a simulated game. He didn’t take any swings. According to Roberts, Bellinger will be spending more time in the coming days playing defense and testing out his shoulder. Roberts wouldn’t give an exact date, but said we could potentially see Bellinger return to games around March 15.
• Another name we haven’t seen this spring is Brusdar Graterol. Roberts didn’t provide much of an update as to when we can see him, but he added that Graterol is closer to returning than Kelly is.
• Kenley Jansen threw a scoreless inning on Sunday, he second scoreless outing of the spring. Roberts said he liked what he saw from Jansen and that he looked better than his first outing. Jansen touched 91 mph, but Roberts said he’s more focused on Jansen’s delivery and the consistency and characteristics of his pitches.