The original plan was for Shohei Ohtani to start on Wednesday’s series finale in Philadelphia, putting him in the sixth rotation spot after the break, maximizing his time off from pitching to rest his left knee, while also pitching directly before an off day. But those plans changed over the weekend, after Ohtani felt discomfort while throwing off flat ground on Friday.
From Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register:
“He was on the schedule when we broke for the All-Star break,” Roberts said. “And
then it was more of the training staff talking to him about, ‘Hey, coming out of the break, how does Wednesday look? How do you feel? If you don’t feel 100 percent, we have the opportunity to just kick the can.’
As with Blake Snell, who has already started a rehab assignment, and Tyler Glasnow, the goal for the Dodgers is to have them all ready to pitch in October. But unlike the others, Ohtani is also the team’s best hitter. From Katie Woo at The Athletic:
“A lot of it is where we’re at and how we’ve put ourselves in a good spot,” Roberts explained. “Could he probably do it? Sure. But right now, the benefits just don’t seem to outweigh the cost at this time of the season. So I think we still have plenty of time to get him to a good spot to then pitch.
“I think that’s why we’re trying to be a little bit more on the proactive side … so we don’t have to worry about it throughout the end of the season.”
Ohtani this season has a 1.79 ERA in 14 starts with 95 strikeouts against 26 walks. Among major league pitchers with at least 80 innings this season, he ranks second in ERA and third in xERA (2.70). Ohtani’s last pitching start was July 3 against the San Diego Padres at Dodger Stadium.
Manager Dave Roberts had understandably high praise for ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto after Sunday afternoon’s complete-game win at Yankee Stadium, resting the relievers directly ahead of the nightcap’s bullpen game. From Maddie Lee of the Los Angeles Times:
“In one game, it’s great,” Roberts said. “But the exponential effect that it has on everybody else, it is huge, and it’s hard to really nail down how valuable that is.
“If you have a guy that not only puts you in a position to win a game, but also saves a lot of arms, that goes hand-in-hand with the top end of the rotation guy.”
Yamamoto leads the majors this season averaging 6.65 innings per start.
