NEW YORK — Los Angeles Dodgers two-way star Shohei Ohtani did not participate in a tentatively planned bullpen session Saturday, and manager Dave Roberts made clear the team has no intention of putting him back on the mound until his irritated left knee is completely healed.
“We’re just going to kick the can,” Roberts said ahead of his club’s game against the New York Mets. “I think like I said yesterday, we’re not going to move forward until he feels 100% confident (and) we feel 100% confident that we should do it.”
Ohtani’s last pitching appearance in an actual game came on July 3. The Dodgers have noted, however, that the knee issue does not affect him at the plate, and the four-time MVP has continued to appear regularly in the starting lineup as a hitter.
The two-time defending World Series champions entered Saturday with the best record in all of Major League Baseball at 66-38, holding an 11-game lead over Arizona in the NL West.
Just before the All-Star break, Ohtani received a lubricant injection in the knee. Roberts had indicated last weekend that it would be “some time” before Ohtani stepped back onto a mound in a game setting.
Ohtani did throw approximately 30 pitches off a mound during a bullpen session in Philadelphia on Wednesday, but Roberts said afterward that Ohtani experienced a “little bit of regression” following that session.
“It was obviously not ideal, him throwing his last bullpen and going backwards essentially,” Roberts said. “So obviously that’s disappointing because you throw a bullpen, you continue to build up. So that was disappointing, but as far as worry, concern, we don’t have any of that.”
On the pitching side this season, Ohtani carries an 8-2 record with a 1.79 ERA and 95 strikeouts across 85 2/3 innings in 14 starts, including six straight wins. As a hitter entering Saturday, he was batting .286 with 22 home runs, 61 RBIs, and a .920 OPS.
On the injury front elsewhere in the Dodgers rotation, two-time Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell made his second rehab start Friday night for Triple-A Oklahoma City. Snell has been out since his season debut on May 9 due to loose bodies in his pitching elbow. The left-hander threw 49 pitches in that outing, giving up one run and two hits over 2 2/3 innings. Roberts indicated Snell will likely be stretched out to four innings in his next rehab start.
Star closer Edwin Díaz, recovering from right elbow surgery, is set to make another rehab appearance Sunday for Oklahoma City. If that outing goes smoothly, the right-hander is expected to be activated from the injured list on Wednesday.
Tyler Glasnow, who has been on the 60-day injured list since May 8 with low back spasms, threw 25 pitches in a one-inning simulated game Friday. Glasnow is scheduled to pitch in another simulated game next week when the Dodgers return home, with a potential rehab assignment to follow after that.
