Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani faced hitters in live batting practice Sunday afternoon for the first time since having elbow surgery in September 2023. Ohtani has been building up slowly these last few weeks and had thrown off a mound in the bullpen several times. Sunday was his first time facing hitters. It is a significant milestone in his rehab.
With a horde of Dodgers personnel watching, Ohtani threw 22 pitches across five plate appearances to teammates Hyeseong Kim and Dalton Rushing, and Dodgers game-planning and communication coach J.T. Watkins. Pitching coach Mark Prior told reporters, including The Athletic, that Ohtani touched 97 mph during Sunday’s throwing session.
“If it kind of works out as it should, he’s a top-end starter,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said after Ohtani’s throwing session Sunday (via the Los Angeles Times). “And so that’s kind of all of our expectations.”
The Dodgers have said Ohtani will not go out on a typical minor-league rehab assignment before stepping into the rotation. He will remain with the team so he’s available to hit while going through his pitching rehab work in controlled simulated games. That is how the Los Angeles Angels built Ohtani up following his first elbow surgery in October 2018.
Before his elbow gave out in 2023, Ohtani had thrown 132 innings with a 3.14 ERA and 167 strikeouts. He pitched to a 2.84 ERA with 542 strikeouts in 428 1/3 innings from 2021-23. This is not a novelty act. Ohtani is a difference-making pitcher and he figures to be a significant upgrade to a battered Dodgers’ rotation.
Los Angeles currently has seven starting pitchers on the injured list and that doesn’t include Ohtani, who is active as a hitter but is not yet ready to pitch in games. The team’s rotation depth chart currently looks like this:
RHP Shohei Ohtani(rehabbing from elbow surgery)- RHP Yoshinobu Yamamoto
LHP Blake Snell(out with shoulder inflammation)RHP Tyler Glasnow(out with shoulder inflammation)- LHP Clayton Kershaw
RHP Roki Sasaki(out with shoulder impingement)- RHP Dustin May
- RHP Tony Gonsolin
RHP Gavin Stone(will miss 2025 with shoulder surgery)- RHP Landon Knack
- RHP Bobby Miller
- LHP Justin Wrobleski
RHP River Ryan(will miss 2025 with Tommy John surgery)RHP Emmet Sheehan(will miss most of 2025 with Tommy John surgery)RHP Kyle Hurt(will miss most of 2025 with Tommy John surgery)
Glasnow and Snell recently started throwing programs but are weeks away from rejoining the rotation, as is Ohtani. It’s usually a six-week build up from playing catch to throwing bullpen sessions to throwing live batting practice to making rehab starts to pitching in MLB games. The Dodgers are handling Ohtani very carefully though. His build up figures to take several weeks longer.
Despite a payroll that is pushing $400 million, the Dodgers have used 13 different starting pitchers in 52 games. No team has used more. That is in part by design. The Dodgers use the regular season almost as a dress rehearsal. Their priority is being in the best position heading into October, so all their pitching decisions are made with the big picture in mind.
The Dodgers entered play Sunday in first place in the NL West at 32-20. Ohtani owns a .296/.390/.631 batting line with 17 homers and 11 stolen bases on the season. He is a three-time unanimous MVP.
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