Shohei Ohtani has not pitched for the Los Angeles Dodgers since July 3, but he was having a great year on the mound.
Ohtani had a 1.79 ERA in 14 starts and had gone at least six innings in all but one start. However, a knee injury and biceps issue forced him to take some time off from pitching. He has still been in the lineup as a hitter, but his return to the mound is in question.
He was on the comeback trail, but did not feel 100 percent after a recent bullpen session. He was expected to get on the mound in Sunday's game and begin his buildup in big-league games, but that was postponed.
Roki Sasaki is hurt right now, but when healthy, the Dodgers don't really need Ohtani to pitch. They have Tarik Skubal, Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Sasaki. That's plenty good enough for October, and Eric Lauer can be the sixth man for the regular season. Dave Roberts has noted that the team does not want to push Ohtani to pitch if it puts his ability to hit at risk.
He has not hit well since he resumed bullpen sessions, so perhaps pitching has hurt his offense as of late. However, he has not indicated that to the team, and there has been no discussion of shutting him down, per The Athletic's Katie Woo.
"There is no update as to when Ohtani could resume throwing after he was scratched from a possible start last Sunday, but Friedman says there has been no talk of shutting Ohtani down from pitching despite a .202/.288/.416 line dating back to the weekend when he first resumed bullpen sessions," wrote Woo.
The Dodgers know Ohtani wants to pitch again, but he will need to be built back up to serve as a real starter. There is currently no timeline for him, and the Dodgers are taking things day by day.
“It’s the competitor in him. He wants to be out there, you know, starting every turn and going deep into games and helping us in the box, which is great,” Friedman said, per Woo. “But we have to make sure we do it in the most thoughtful way.”
“We will get him in a game at some point," he added. "When? I don’t know exactly yet.”