Welcome Back, Scott Elbert!

I had almost forgotten all about him.  Per a report via Ken Gurnick at MLB.com, Scott Elbert will be rejoining the Dodgers in San Francisco tonight.  Per Jon Weisman at Dodger Insider, Red Patterson has been DFA's in a corresponding move.  Per Weisman:

Since clearing waivers and accepting an assignment to the Isotopes in August, Elbert allowed seven runs, 14 hits and three walks in 7 1/3 innings while striking out six, but that was skewed when he gave up five runs while getting one out at Las Vegas on August 8. From August 14 to the end of the season, Elbert pitched 4 2/3 shutout innings with five strikeouts.

As you'll recall, Elbert was the Dodgers 1st round draft pick in 2004.  He had originally been drafted to be a starter, but like so many high-flying prospects the bullpen soon became his calling.  In 2011 he finally solidified himself as an integral part of the Dodger relief staff - as our lefty specialist.  That season he pitched in 47 games, allowing just 9 earned runs over 33.1 innings and saved two games.  He also struck 34, walked only 14 and left-handed batters hit only .191 against him.  The next season he pitched in 43 games but regressed a bit - left-handers batted .271 against him.

Unfortunately, arm problems that began with shoulder issues that caused him to miss most of the 2007 season continued to plagued him.  His 2012 season was filled with several trips to the DL and finally ended with surgery in mid-September.  Then, a setback resulted in another surgery several months later in January 2013.  By mid-year he looked ready to go again, but pain emerged in his elbow after pitching on consecutive days in rehab.  So on June 10, 2013 he had Tommy John Surgery.  Just over a year later Elbert returned to the mound and has been working on getting back into game shape. 

I don't know if we should expect much from him, but it'll be nice to have another experienced lefty arm in the bullpen.  Just as a reminder, Elbert throws a low 90's four-seam fastball and a high-80's slider.  He also uses his slider as his out pitch.  It'll be interesting to see if some of the zip he used to have is still there.

In celebration of Scott Elbert's return to the Dodgers I made the above fantasy card for him.  I used a photograph grabbed from Dodger photographer Jon SooHoo/LA Dodgers 2012 and the 1971 Topps Baseball card design.

Below are his career statistics, via Baseball Reference:

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