The Los Angeles Dodgers have kept Shohei Ohtani on a steady progression as he looks to make a return to pitching this season.
On Tuesday, Ohtani took a step forward in what had recently become a somewhat static portion of his schedule by throwing sliders for the first time. Although that still came on flat ground, it nonetheless was a notable development for Ohtani.
“It is progressing. I’m not sure when he’s going to take that slider from flat ground to the bullpen, but that is progress,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.
Ohtani remains limited to throwing fastballs (two-seam, four-seam and cutter) in addition to his splitter in bullpen sessions. He started incorporating splitters for the first time during a bullpen session on April 5.
Ohtani’s latest progress with bullpen sessions on Saturdays came with simulating pitching multiple innings. He first did so by throwing two sets of 20 pitches. Then this past weekend that increased to 50 total pitches, split evenly over two innings.
“That’s kind of adding volume to the ‘pens as well,” Roberts said of Ohtani’s overall progress with his throwing program.
Ohtani is scheduled to pitch multiple innings during his bullpen session on Saturday as well. His Wednesday work off the mound continues to be lighter throwing days.
Shohei Ohtani’s pitching timeline
By starting to introduce the slider in throwing sessions, it theoretically puts Ohtani closer to facing hitters for the first time. The Dodgers don’t plan to have him do so until Ohtani is able to throw his entire pitch mix.
But while there can be considered progress made, when Ohtani is going to face batters remains unclear.
“I really wish I had an answer,” Roberts said. “I’m just waiting for the green light from people that are managing the Shohei rehab day-to-day.”
The Dodgers have not publicly committed to a timeline but it was recently reported the team is not planning to have Ohtani pitch until after the All-Star break.
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