PHOENIX — The lone mishap to come at this stage of Shohei Ohtani’s rehabilitation from a second major elbow ligament reconstruction came on Saturday, as the Los Angeles Dodgers star threw his first bullpen session of the spring. After each of his 14 fastballs, Ohtani looked back behind him, where the organization’s pitching brain trust typically supplies a collection of metrics and tabulations that whet the granular Ohtani’s appetite.
Only, for most of the session, the server’s internet connection wasn’t working.
“Unfortunately technology was not necessarily our friend today,” pitching coach Mark Prior said.
So, they had to read and react. The rudimentary metrics the Dodgers were able to obtain from Ohtani’s brief session left more than enough to be encouraged. Ohtani’s fastballs sat between 92 and 94 mph, manager Dave Roberts said. He threw from the windup, rather than the stretch, seeking to find a rhythm. Everyone came away happy, including Ohtani, who grunted loudly as he threw his final pitch before embracing catcher Will Smith.
The reigning National League MVP is becoming a two-way player again. Roberts said it’s “very feasible” Ohtani, who threw a handful of bullpens last season before shutting it down for the Dodgers’ postseason run, could face hitters for the first time post-surgery before the Dodgers open the season against the Chicago Cubs in Tokyo next month.
The Dodgers have envisioned Ohtani returning to a big-league mound as soon as May. Putting the finishing touches on his rehab before pitching in a Dodgers uniform for the first time, however, will require the Dodgers to once again read and react. How creative will this have to get?
“Very creative,” Prior interjected. “It’s unique, never been done.”
Well, never been done by anyone other than Ohtani. The Dodgers are tasked with solving a problem only the Angels have had before them, working with Ohtani as he rehabbed from his first Tommy John surgery after his rookie 2018 season. There are some slight differences, including a pandemic in 2020 that impacted his schedule.
There are still lessons to be gathered. The Angels, for instance, did not have Ohtani throw in a minor-league rehab assignment, instead shuttling hitters to Angel Stadium to face the right-hander. Ohtani usually wasn’t in the Angels’ lineup on the days he rehabbed, though the two-way star gained much more of a voice in his overall workload ahead of his first MVP campaign in 2021.
The Dodgers sure sounded like they will continue to let Ohtani’s workload be a byproduct of constant communication.
“I’m sure it’s going to be a lot of conversation with him,” president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said. “What he’s doing is incredibly unique and the toll it has, none of us have data points to draw from of, ‘Oh, when we were around this, this guy recovered this way.’ It’s so unique that we absolutely need his feedback. He’s also so dialed into how he feels and how his body’s doing that it will be an active conversation between all of us.”
Shohei Ohtani’s fastball sat between 92 and 94 mph during Saturday’s bullpen session, according to Dave Roberts. (Christian Petersen / Getty Images)
Ohtani, in all likelihood, won’t go on a minor-league rehab assignment, usually seen as a required step in a return from major surgery but something that would take away from his duties as the club’s leadoff man and everyday designated hitter. The Dodgers have used simulated games in the past to allow players, notably Clayton Kershaw, to bypass a rehab assignment in years past. It’s not a rare sight for several rehabbing players to participate in simulated games hours before first pitch at Dodger Stadium, with the team at times bringing in hitters and pitchers from their Rancho Cucamonga affiliate for more bodies. They could do the same for Ohtani, having him face bench players while on the road.
“It’s going to be unique and we’re going to have to do it on the fly,” Prior said. “We saw what he did last year trying to rehab and hit. That seemed to turn out pretty well, at least on the offensive side of the ball. It’s probably going to be some version of that. Great thing is, Shohei’s really dedicated to his craft. Really dedicated and really meticulous about what he does. He communicates very well on what he needs those days to get ready. So we’re just going to have to be nimble and we’re going to have to adjust.”
The Dodgers have already slightly altered their plans until Ohtani comes back. While they’ve stated their intention to run a six-man rotation in 2025, that plan will largely be on hold until whenever Ohtani joins the rotation to help the Dodgers maintain an eight-man bullpen. Seven off days between their U.S.-based opener and their first game in May will help.
Making sure Ohtani, who is also coming off a labrum repair in his left (non-throwing) shoulder, remains effective at the plate without suffering the pitfalls of other recent two-time Tommy John recipients appears on the surface to be an impossible needle to thread. Ohtani himself admitted this week that he still feels some limitations at the plate with his range of motion in that shoulder. The workloads he ran in his unprecedented 2021-23 run were massive, with more batter-pitcher interactions than any player in the sport by an unthinkable margin.
“I do wanna play as much as possible, as many games as possible, but if the team feel like I should get a break, I’ll follow that,” Ohtani said this week through interpreter Will Ireton.
The Dodgers are conscious of this, giving Ohtani a day without any physical activity on Thursday and ensuring he didn’t hit after throwing his bullpen on Saturday. Those half-days are going to be much more difficult to come by once the season starts.
“I think we’re doing a good job of … break(ing) up the hitting vs. the pitching, the workload,” Roberts said. “But I think we all feel good because he’s done it and he’s had success doing it. For us, it’s just making sure we work with him, understand what he feels he needs that particular day and days forthcoming.”
And yet, no one seems to doubt what the three-time MVP can do.
“It’s everything with Shohei,” Friedman said. “It’s uncharted territory. It’s as unique as it gets. It’s why my contention is he’s the most talented player to really ever play this game.”
(Top photo: Christian Petersen / Getty Images)
