JUPITER, Fla. — Dakota Hudson will take his competition wherever he can get it now that the Cardinals righthander is likely to miss the entire big-league season after having Tommy John elbow surgery this last offseason. So he is relishing the pitchers’ fielding practice that can be drudgery for others. For the moment, it is all that he has on the field.
Hudson calls it a jolt of energy as it keeps himself involved to a small degree in spring training when he isn’t able to throw yet. Though said by manager Mike Shildt to be ahead of schedule, relative to flexibility, Hudson won’t be allowed to play catch until March 15 although he is going through one-armed, plyometric exercises with a weighted ball early in camp when he isn’t picking the brain of reliever Jordan Hicks, who had the same surgery in 2019 and who came to Jupiter early, as did Hudson.