LOS ANGELES (AP) — Shohei Ohtani is unlikely to pitch in the All-Star Game on July 14 after the Los Angeles Dodgers adjusted his schedule.
The two-way superstar has primarily been starting on the mound every Wednesday, but the team pushed him back to Friday this week to manage his workload.
Asked if that meant Ohtani was unlikely to pitch in the All-Star Game, manager Dave Roberts said Friday: “I haven't formally said it, but if you just kind of do
the math, it would be hard to imagine. But I don’t have to make that decision quite yet.”
Roberts will manage the National League All-Stars in Philadelphia.
Ohtani is already penciled into the starting lineup as the designated hitter because he was the overall leader with 3,341,257 votes after the first phase of fan balloting.
The right-hander is a strong candidate to be selected to the NL pitching staff as well, but Philadelphia left-hander Cristopher Sánchez seems most likely to start in his home ballpark. Milwaukee ace Jacob Misiorowski leads the majors with a 1.45 ERA but is on turn to pitch for the Brewers two days before the All-Star Game, which would make him unavailable against the American League.
Ohtani was second with a 1.58 ERA going into Friday night's start against San Diego.
The Dodgers wanted Ohtani to get additional rest during a stretch of 13 games in 13 days. After his outing Friday, he's scheduled to make one more start before the All-Star Game on July 10 against Arizona at home. That would give his arm only three days of rest prior to the Midsummer Showcase.
“Shohei hasn’t had his best stuff recently and that’s the truth,” Roberts said. “The fastball command hasn’t been what it was earlier in the season, the sweeper hasn’t been the same.”
Ohtani has been bothered by left knee soreness and has a blister on the middle finger of his right hand.
“He feels good, the body feels good,” Roberts said before Friday's game. “The knee feels as good as it’s felt in quite some time, so that’s encouraging.”
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