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Alden Gonzalez
GLENDALE, Ariz. — Dozens of photographers, camera operators and reporters fixed their eyes on the bullpen mounds that reside directly behind the Los Angeles Dodgers spring training complex on Saturday morning, where Shohei Ohtani took another step — a rather significant one — toward his return to a two-way role.
On 14 occasions, Ohtani settled atop a pitching rubber, went through the mechanics of his windup and fired fastballs in the direction of Dodgers catcher Will Smith, constituting his first official bullpen session of the year.
Ohtani isn’t expected to join the Dodgers’ rotation until some time in May and won’t pitch in any Cactus League games before the team flies to Tokyo, Japan, to begin its season in the middle of March. At this point, the steps are relatively minor. He still needs to increase the intensity of his throws — his fastballs ranged from 92 to 94 mph on Saturday, a handful of ticks below what it will be in games — and incorporate breaking pitches off a mound.
But Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said it’s “very feasible” for Ohtani to face hitters at some point in March. What follows will require creativity, mostly due to a lack of precedent. Ohtani will spend April navigating through the final stages of his rehab while acting as an important member of the Dodgers’ lineup, a set of circumstances not even Ohtani, the first two-way star since Babe Ruth, has ever experienced.
“It’s going to be unique and we’re going to have to do it on the fly,” Dodgers pitching coach Mark Prior said. “We saw what he did last year trying to rehab and hit. That seemed to turn out pretty well, at least on the offensive side of the ball. It’s probably going to be some version of that. Great thing is, Shohei’s really dedicated to his craft, really dedicated and really meticulous about what he does. He communicates very well on what he needs those days to get ready. So we’re just going to have to be nimble and we’re going to have to adjust.”
In lieu of venturing out on a rehab assignment, like a normal recovering pitcher would, the Dodgers expect to stage simulated games before regular-season contests every five or six days in late March and throughout April, calling on little-used bench players or nearby minor leaguers to take at-bats against Ohtani in an effort to duplicate live action. The Dodgers hope to control as much as possible until they can’t.
“Once he steps between the line of a real game, we can’t control the situation,” Prior said. “That’ll be ultimately the principle that guides this whole thing is making sure that he’s 100 percent ready to go out there and let the game dictate what happens, and he’s in a position to handle that physically, mentally and emotionally.”
Ohtani, the unanimous National League MVP after the first 50/50 season in baseball history last year, is expected to be ready as a hitter by the season opener. But games as a pitcher are still a ways away. Prior compared Saturday’s session to dipping a toe in the water, calling it a continuation of last year’s rehab, which saw Ohtani face hitters before the Dodgers began their march through the postseason.
Ohtani fired off both four-seamers and two-seamers and went from the windup, rather than the stretch position, partly to put less stress on his arm. Often he looked back to glean pitch characteristics from the Rapsodo device, but the Wi-Fi was spotty.
Ohtani, who put together one of the most impressive three-year stretches in baseball history as a two-way player from 2021 to 2023, underwent a second repair of his ulnar collateral ligament in September of 2023, then had surgery to repair a torn labrum on his left, non-throwing shoulder in November of 2024. Earlier this week, Ohtani admitted that the left-shoulder repair has triggered some discomfort and limited his range of notice. Prior hasn’t necessarily noticed.
“I’ll be honest, it’s crazy to think that this guy had surgery on his left shoulder in November,” Prior said. “He doesn’t look like he’s missed a beat. There’s not a lot of things that kind of surprise me, but he looks really good. And that is surprising for a guy who’s had a surgery. I know it’s not his throwing shoulder, but it doesn’t look like his left shoulder has been impacted, at least visually to the naked eye. I’m sure he feels stuff here and there, but overall, he looks really good.”