Shohei Ohtani is one step closer to being baseball’s two-way star once again, but the reigning National League MVP won’t be on the mound anytime soon.
Rather, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Ohtani likely won’t return to a major league mound until after the All-Star break.
There is good news, however: Ohtani is to pitch batting practice before Sunday night’s series finale against the New York Mets.
‘He’s doing his first simulated game for two innings and in theory you got to build a starter up to five, six innings,’ Roberts said. ‘And so just the natural progression, I just don’t see it being before that.’
Roberts wouldn’t rule out Ohtani making a minor league injury rehabilitation appearance. Normally a pitcher coming back from elbow ligament repair makes several minor league starts in the final stage of his recovery. But because Ohtani is among the top hitters in the major leagues, the defending World Series champion Dodgers wouldn’t want to lose his bat for any games.
Minor league teams are off on Mondays, leaving Thursday, June 12, as the only day next month Ohtani could pitch in the minors while the Dodgers are off.
