Shohei Ohtani is expected to pitch again in a game for the Dodgers at some point, possibly soon. But it won’t happen on Sunday, or Tuesday, manager Dave Roberts told reporters on Saturday afternoon at Comerica Park in Detroit after a loss to the Tigers.
“In total, Sho hasn’t come out of it well, the arm, the knee. If any pitcher was feeling like this, we wouldn’t run them out there,” Roberts told reporters, as shown on SportsNet LA. “For us, it’s take tomorrow off the table, let’s get back to LA,
let’s kind of figure out where his body is at, and go from there.”
Ohtani last pitched on July 3 against the San Diego Padres, and has been sidelined from pitching ever since with left knee irritation, and missed the All-Star Game after treatment on said knee. He’s also dealt with a right biceps injury in the last two months, and the Dodgers have been cautious about not wanting Ohtani to have to compensate while pitching and potentially injure himself further, threading a delicate balance of wanting Ohtani back on the mound by the postseason while also needing to keep his bat in the lineup for a Dodgers offense that has struggled for two months.
“I don’t think he’s 100 percent. That’s the hard part right now is trying to figure out if he’s not 100 percent, overall body, is it worth giving him an inning to build up, or not,” Roberts said Saturday morning, as shown on SportsNet LA. “It’s more of when [Ohtani might pitch], and does it have to be [Sunday]. Internally, we’re trying to discuss it.”
“To be quite frank, I just don’t see everything getting to 100 percent by the end of the season,” Roberts added. “But then again, there are a lot of pitchers who aren’t 100 percent, but are still viable. It’s just not an exact science.”
Ohtani won’t pitch on Tuesday either, Roberts said. But he will continue to hit, and will be in Sunday’s starting lineup in Detroit.
The road back for Ohtani on the mound began ramping up in earnest on August 14 with a bullpen session at Dodger Stadium, his first time pitching off a mound in over three weeks. He threw 30 pitches of a simulated game, all to rehabbing Dodgers catcher Will Smith on August 22 at Dodger Stadium, then Ohtani threw off flat ground on the road trip on Wednesday in Atlanta before a 20-pitch bullpen session on Friday in Detroit.
Ohtani this season has a 1.79 ERA and 2.59 xERA with 95 strikeouts and 26 waks in 85 2/3 innings. Among major league pitchers with at least 80 innings this season, Ohtani ranks second in ERA, fifth in xERA, and 14th in strikeout rate. He completed at least six innings in 13 of his 14 starts.
It’s unclear how many pitching starts during the regular season might get, but considering his first outing would be one inning, he might not be able to build back up to five innings by the postseason. Because Ohtani is a two-way player, he doesn’t count against the active-roster limit of 13 pitchers, which will increase to 14 pitchers on Tuesday, September 1. That means any innings Ohtani throws are innings the rest of the Dodgers pitching staff doesn’t aren’t burdened with.
“For Shohei, knowing that any inning is additive is important, and it was a formula that worked,” Roberts said on August 14.
Tyler Glasnow was always going to pitch on Sunday, whether following Ohtani’s one inning or not. Now, Glasnow will start. The right-hander returned Tuesday from three and a half months on the injured list with back spasms with seven strikeouts in five innings allowing three runs in Atlanta, and will be pitching on four days rest against the Tigers.
