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Judging Jonathan Broxton’s recovery will be tricky

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Reporting from Phoenix —

The Jonathan Broxton that James Loney described sounded a lot like the Jonathan Broxton who was an All-Star.

Loney faced Broxton in live batting practice Thursday and said of his fastball, “It looked hard to me. He had some movement. He looked smooth and fluid.”

But although Loney said he expects Broxton to regain his All-Star form, he conceded he hadn’t seen enough of him to declare the pitcher recovered from whatever plagued him over the final three months of last season.

Judging Broxton’s recovery will be tricky.

“Power pitchers I’ve seen in the past, it takes them awhile in spring training to get going,” Manager Don Mattingly said, citing Goose Gossage as an example.

“They’re usually getting beat up pretty good in the spring. Goose used to get hit every year. Then they get to the season and get that extra little adrenaline.”

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Mattingly said that during the exhibition season he will evaluate Broxton based on how he looks and feels, rather than his results.

“That other guy’s there,” Mattingly said, referring to the Broxton who was an All-Star. “If he’s getting hit a little bit in spring training, to say, ‘He’s not throwing well,’ it’s not really fair to him. If it was any other spring, you wouldn’t even think about it. You would be, ‘Brox is getting ready.’ ”

Quick recovery?

Optimistic about the way Vicente Padilla came out of surgery Thursday, the Dodgers medical staff said the reliever could start tossing a baseball in three to four weeks. He would presumably need another month or so to build arm strength

“Sounds like it went well,” Mattingly said. “The best-case scenario for us is that he will be tossing the baseball a little bit by the time we leave here. We’ll see where we go from there.”

Padilla underwent a minimally invasive procedure in Los Angeles to release a nerve that was entrapped by a muscle in his forearm.

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Because Padilla is scheduled to pitch out of the bullpen, it will probably take him less time to prepare to be game-ready than if he were a starter.

Padilla is scheduled to return to Phoenix on Friday to begin the rehabilitation process.

Signing on

If anything can be said about Mattingly so far, it’s this: He signs autographs. A lot of them.

After the Dodgers completed their workout Thursday, 30 or 40 fans formed a single-file line along a fence to get a keepsake from the Dodgers’ rookie manager. He honored every request, signing bats and photos, and taking photographs with fans.

Scenes such as this have been common this spring.

“I try to do it, especially when I have time,” Mattingly said.

Short hops

The Dodgers open the Cactus League season Saturday with split-squad games against the Angels in Tempe and San Francisco Giants in Scottsdale. Hiroki Kuroda will start the game in Tempe and non-roster pitcher Tim Redding will start the game in Scottsdale.… Three Dodgers minor leaguers were ranked in Baseball America’s annual list of the top 100 prospects: shortstop Dee Gordon (No. 26), and pitchers Zach Lee (No. 89) and Rubby De La Rosa (No. 90). De La Rosa, who is in major league camp, is expected to make his first appearance of the spring Saturday against the Angels.

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dylan.hernandez@latimes.com

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