PHOENIX — Shohei Ohtani played catch on Saturday before the Dodgers’ game against the Arizona Diamondbacks, his first time throwing a baseball outdoors in more than two weeks.
Ohtani previously said he wouldn’t take this step until he was certain his sore left knee was ready for it.
“I think throwing with intensity and taking a step back would be the worst thing,” Ohtani said in Japanese earlier in the week. “I think it’s important to be able to have confidence that I can throw with a certain amount of effort without any problem and gradually build up from there.”
Ohtani has exercised patience in his latest push to return to the mound, but he now finds himself in a race against time. Only seven weeks remain in the regular season.
Because of time constraints and uncertainty over Ohtani’s condition, the Dodgers are uncertain of what they can expect from their two-way player.
Manager Dave Roberts said he would consider any future contributions from Ohtani to be “bonuses.”
Roberts has said the plan is for Ohtani to gradually build up his arm strength in major league games, as he did last year when he returned to pitching after his second Tommy John surgery. When Ohtani made his pitching comeback in early July last season, he pitched an inning in each of his first two starts and two innings in each of his next two. His first time completing six innings was in his final start of the regular season.
Considering that Ohtani might not pitch in another game this year until September, he is unlikely to be sufficiently built up to start games in the playoffs. In that scenario, the Dodgers would have the option of using him as an opener to take down the first couple of innings of a game.
Even without Ohtani, the Dodgers are expected to have four Cy Young Award-caliber starters in the postseason: Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the reigning World Series Most Valuable Player; Tarik Skubal, who was acquired last week from the Detroit Tigers; Blake Snell, who is scheduled to be activated on Tuesday; and Tyler Glasnow, who just started a minor-league rehabilitation assignment.
For Ohtani to be part of the Dodgers’ pitching plans, he will have to overcome the discomfort he has experienced in his landing leg since at least mid-June. Ohtani blamed the problem on pitching mechanics.
Ohtani registered a 0.74 ERA in his first 10 starts of the season. His ERA in the four starts he made after that: 4.38.
He started his last game on July 3. He struck out nine batters in six innings that day but gave up three runs in a no-decision.
Ohtani was scratched from his final start before the All-Star break. He received a lubricant injection in his knee and skipped the All-Star Game.
He threw a bullpen session in Philadelphia on July 22, but his knee and right biceps flared up. Since then, he’d been limited to throwing weighted balls indoors.
