Shohei Ohtani has been shut down from pitching as he recovers from a knee injury, but he is close to returning to the Los Angeles Dodgers rotation.
Ohtani threw a 30-pitch live session on Saturday, and it could be his last session before making his return to the rotation.
"The Dodgers do not have a set starter for Sunday’s series finale against the Detroit Tigers," wrote The Athletic's Fabian Ardaya and Katie Woo on Sunday. "Ohtani starting that game and throwing one inning is an option the club is considering, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the club’s thinking who cannot comment publicly because those plans are not finalized. Previously, there had not been a timeline for Ohtani other than vague assurances he would be back this season."
This would not be dissimilar to when the Dodgers built him up to return to pitching last season. As opposed to a normal pitcher, sending Ohtani on a rehab assignment means taking an elite hitter out of the lineup.
If Ohtani does start and throw an inning against the Detroit Tigers on Sunday, it would be the start of a buildup back to a full workload. He is an MVP candidate, and a return to the rotation could set him up to pass Pete Crow-Armstrong in the MVP race.
Ohtani has a 1.79 ERA this season in 14 starts. He has gone at least six innings in all but one of his starts. Getting him back would give the Dodgers a rotation of Tarik Skubal, Blake Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Ohtani, Sasaki and Tyler Glasnow, who is set to return this week.