The Dodgers are balancing Shohei Ohtani’s pitching and hitting in camp this yr for the primary time. Final season, he was recovering from a critical elbow damage as a pitcher and this time round, he is on the point of return to the mound whereas additionally juggling his return to the plate after offseason shoulder surgical procedure.
For now, the Dodgers have determined to decelerate his pitching rehab whereas he picks issues up as a hitter.
“We simply felt that to accentuate the bullpens alongside of the depth of the video games (as DH) wasn’t good,” supervisor Dave Roberts mentioned (through OC Register). “So we simply wished to type of slow-play it.”
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The plan is to have Ohtani within the beginning lineup from the get-go. The Dodgers open before 28 different groups this yr, as they begin with a two-game collection in Tokyo on March 18-19. To reiterate, the expectation is Ohtani will function the Dodgers’ designated hitter in each of these video games.
So far as returning to the mound? That is murkier. Ohtani final threw off a mound Feb. 25, per reviews. Roberts advised reporters that someday in Could is an inexpensive guess, but in addition mentioned, “we simply do not know.”
“I simply really feel, and all of us really feel, simply making an attempt to make it a broad time to return” with out “any type of expectation,” Roberts mentioned (OC Register).
Ohtani gained his third MVP final season when he hit .310/.390/.646 (190 OPS+) with 38 doubles, seven triples, 54 homers, 130 RBI, 134 runs, 59 stolen bases and 9.2 WAR for the World Sequence champion Dodgers. He final pitched in 2023 and for the Angels that season he was 10-5 with a 3.14 ERA (142 ERA+), 1.06 WHIP and 167 strikeouts in 132 innings.
