Walker Buehler faced live batters on Wednesday for the first time since having surgery more than a year ago.

The Los Angeles Dodgers right-hander is trying to return from his second elbow ligament replacement operation, which he underwent last August. 

"It was good to get out there," Buehler said of his outing at the Dodgers' nearby Camelback Ranch facility, where the team holds spring training. "It was fine. Never going to be perfect the first time out there. Made some good pitches, and some bad ones."

Dave Roberts liked what he saw.

"It went really well. Much better than I expected. He used his entire pitch mix," Roberts said. "Everything looked crisp. It was encouraging. [His fastball] was 92 to 93 mph, the cutter was 90, so the velocity was better than I expected."