Chad Billingsley made a rehab start at Single-A - MLB

Dodgers starter Chad Billingsley underwent Tommy John surgery in late April last season. After a rehab start at Single-A Rancho Cucamonga on Sunday, the right-hander is one step closer towards his return. Pedro Moura of the Orange County Register reports that Billingsley threw a perfect inning with a strikeout.

Billingsley did come out for the second inning, but was on a pitch limit, so he left after ten more pitches. Dylan Hernandez of the L.A. Times reports that Billingsley walked off with a trainer, but it is unknown at the moment if that was just precautionary or an indication of a serious issue.

[Update: Per Hernandez, Billingsley felt “a little sensation” in his elbow. Manager Don Mattingly says it is not a reason for alarm.]

With the assumption that nothing has gone wrong, Billingsley is on track to make five more rehab starts before becoming a candidate to rejoin the Dodgers’ starting rotation some time in May.

The Dodgers could use another solid arm in the rotation, as they are currently dealing with injuries to Clayton Kershaw and Josh Beckett.

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Roger Clemens will be an analyst for ESPN when the defending World Series champion Houston Astros host the Chicago White Sox on opening day.

Clemens made four appearances on last year’s KayRod Cast with Michael Kay and Alex Rodriguez. He will be stepping in on March 30 for David Cone, who will be doing the New York Yankees opener against the San Francisco Giants on YES Network.

“Roger has been sort of a friend of ours for the last year, so to speak, he’s in. He’s been engaged, knowledgeable and really present,” said ESPN Vice President of Production Phil Orlins. “You know, whatever past may be, he’s still tremendously engaged and he really brought that every time he was with us.”

Clemens was a seven-time Cy Young winner but his career after baseball has been tainted by allegations of performance-enhancing drug use. He is a Houston native and pitched for the Astros for three seasons.

Orlins said that with the rules changes and pitch clock, it is important to have a pitcher in the booth with Karl Ravech and Eduardo Perez.

“We don’t feel like we have to have the dynamic of Eduardo with a pitcher, but we certainly think that works. Throw in the added factor of rule changes and it is better to have a batter-pitcher perspective,” Orlins said.

Orlins did not say if this would open the door for future opportunities for Clemens as an ESPN analyst.