LOS ANGELES (AP) — Shohei Ohtani is headed to the 15-day injured list with right arm discomfort, leaving the streaking Los Angeles Dodgers without the four-time MVP as they close in on their 13th NL West title in 14 years.
Manager Dave Roberts announced the move late Wednesday, saying that, “in talking to Shohei, the doctors, the training staff, it’s the right thing to do. We tried to kick the can as much as we could.”
Ohtani isn't expected back until
the Dodgers host the San Diego Padres in a three-game set beginning Sept. 22. He won't travel on the team's seven-game East Coast trip starting Friday.
“I do think that if the playoffs were tomorrow, he'd be in the lineup,” Roberts said. “I'm pretty confident that he'll be ready to go on that 15th day.”
Ohtani was out of the lineup for the sixth time in seven games on Wednesday night, when the Dodgers beat the Cincinnati Reds 14-1 to complete a sweep and win their seventh in a row.
Ohtani has been managing lingering soreness in his right biceps and left knee for weeks now, but he waited until after Tuesday night's game to tell the training staff he felt something in his arm after playing Monday.
"There was a swing Monday that he didn’t feel great on, hasn’t totally recovered from Monday,” Roberts said before the game.
While the Dodgers are back East, Ohtani will remain in Los Angeles and resume hitting after a two- or three-day rest to “calm his arm down,” Roberts said.
“Let’s get his body feeling well and then slowly ramp back up because now we do have time,” Roberts said.
In an unprecedented move, the Dodgers will call up Josue De Paula from Double-A Tulsa to fill Ohtani's roster spot. He'll make his major league debut Friday at Miami as the designated hitter.
The team hasn't called up a position player directly from Double-A since Andrew Friedman took over as president of baseball operations in 2015, but Roberts is confident their 21-year-old top prospect from the Dominican Republic can handle the pressure.
“I think that our player development group is very confident in his ability to conduct an at-bat. You could argue that the talent in Double-A is similar to Triple-A as far as pure arms and arm talent,” Roberts said. “We've seen him in camp for two or three years. He doesn't run from velocity. He controls the strike zone. This is just a good opportunity for him to kind of cut his teeth in the big leagues.”
When Ohtani returns, he would have six games and some live batting sessions to prepare before the postseason begins and the Dodgers open their bid for a third consecutive World Series championship.
“It's certainly not ideal,” Roberts admitted. “The most important thing is him being as healthy as possible, not compromising his swing, and kind of bet on that.”
Ohtani took swings in the batting cage on Tuesday night, when he was available to pinch-hit.
Roberts confirmed the team has stressed to Ohtani the need for him to speak up immediately about any physical issues he may have.
“The concern is that after four days (off) and then to take four at-bats and to feel something in an at-bat where we can’t keep going forward, I think that’s disappointing,” Roberts said before the game.
Roberts expressed some regret about not putting Ohtani on the IL last week.
“I would love to go back and put him on the IL,” he said. “But I did feel at that moment in time, we all felt that giving him four days was sufficient. He was agreeable.”
Also out of the lineup Wednesday was first baseman Freddie Freeman, whose right knee has been bothering him. He made a rare appearance as the designated hitter on Tuesday, going 0 for 2 with a strikeout in a 3-2 victory over the Cincinnati Reds.
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