WASHINGTON — The Dodgers and Shohei Ohtani appear to agree on one thing for certain – there’s no reason to rush his pitching rehab.
After pausing his throwing program for a month, Ohtani has resumed at a slower pace than previously. He threw a 26-pitch bullpen session on Saturday and is not scheduled to throw again until Thursday. That is expected to be only a light session with his next full bullpen session not scheduled until Saturday again.
“I feel pretty good with this routine of throwing bullpens and playing every day,” Ohtani said through his interpreter. “I think once we head into live BP, it’ll be interesting to see how my body reacts.”
Ohtani won’t face hitters until he has implemented his full pitch mix during these weekly bullpen sessions. He included a few splitters in his bullpen session last week but has yet to start throwing sliders.
“I feel pretty good with where I’m at physically,” Ohtani said of the throwing program. “There’s some limitations on how hard I’m supposed to throw or how many types of pitches I’m allowed to throw. So once I’m pretty cleared out in terms of being able to do all the above, I feel pretty good about being able to throw a live BP.”
Ohtani indicated he is fine with the slow pace of his return to pitching following his second Tommy John surgery, now almost 19 months ago.
“The Dodgers are consulting with the doctors just to make sure that, since this is my second operation, it’s really important to be conservative and be thoughtful,” he said.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said he believes Ohtani is “grateful” for the Dodgers’ cautious handling of his return to two-way status.
“It was a collective decision and I think he understands that the goal is to make sure he’s firing on all cylinders towards the end of the season and into October,” Roberts said. “We’re in lock step. So I don’t think there’s any sort of angst or anxiety or frustration for Shohei in that sense at all.”
Used exclusively as a designated hitter last season, Ohtani won his third MVP award while batting .310 with 54 home runs, 130 RBIs and 59 stolen bases. He entered Tuesday with a .311 average, four homers and five RBIs.
ODD START
With three home runs in the Dodgers’ first 12 games, Kiké Hernandez is off to a good start in that category. But heading into Tuesday’s game, those were Hernandez’s only hits in his first 33 at-bats of the season.
“Not great. I guess it could be worse. I could have three singles instead of three homers,” he said. “Coming into the season, I was feeling great, and then I started throwing up a lot, and I didn’t see pitching for a week, and when I got back to playing, I got reminded that not everybody’s Mookie Betts. Not everybody can miss two weeks of playing and come back like nothing had happened.”
Hernandez missed the first home series against the Detroit Tigers after falling ill. Since returning, he is 2 for 25 with 10 strikeouts.
“Trying to be understanding with myself, kind of be patient and gentle with myself, because it’s not that easy,” he said. “Not necessarily happy with all the swing and misses and the chase. That’s something that I didn’t do in spring training. So just trying to get back to being me and not trying to do too much.”
SNELL SPOT
Left-hander Justin Wrobleski was promoted from Triple-A to fill Blake Snell’s spot in the rotation on Tuesday. Right-hander Landon Knack will get the call on Wednesday to make a spot start.
“We definitely feel confident,” Roberts said of the Dodgers’ pitching depth. “I don’t think that anyone expected us to go unscathed all year, whether it’s out of the ’pen or starter. It’s where we’re at. But I do think that we knew that we had a lot of viable options to backfill and we’re seeing two the next two nights.”
Snell will not throw until Monday, Roberts said. But there was no treatment recommended other than rest.
“That’s all. We’re going to just rest it. Nothing else. Just rest until Monday, and we’ll pick back up from there,” Roberts said.
“I would say that’s best-case scenario. So given where we’re at and the time of year, for there not to be any type of intervention of any kind after the scan and just taking seven days of rest, is probably the best-case scenario.”
The Dodgers will need starters again next Tuesday and Wednesday against the Colorado Rockies and Roberts said Wrobleski could stick around to fill in for Snell again. Tony Gonsolin is scheduled to continue his rehab assignment in Triple-A this week and is not a candidate to join the rotation yet.
“He’s going to be built up to three innings (in his next rehab start),” Roberts said. “Then I think the plan for him is to make sure he gets up to five innings or potentially six innings. So, he’s a few weeks away.”
ALSO
Will Smith, Tyler Glasnow and Roberts as well as owner Mark Walter visited the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday and presented personalized Dodgers jerseys to California’s two senators, Adam Schiff and Alex Padilla.
UP NEXT
Dodgers (RHP Landon Knack, 1-0, 0.00 ERA) at Nationals (RHP Jake Irvin, 0-0, 5.40 ERA), Wednesday, 1 p.m., SportsNet LA, 570 AM
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