Now that the season’s finding its rhythm and April’s still slow enough for fans to breathe, baseball’s in that rare pocket where there’s no playoff pressure, no looming trade chatter, and free agency talk is months away. It’s just good baseball, mostly. But even in that calm, one question refuses to go away: When will Shohei Ohtani pitch again?

The Los Angeles Dodgers are barely a month into the season and already walking a tightrope with their pitching staff. Blake Snell, Tony Gonsolin, Emmet Sheehan, and Gavin Stone are all inuured. Even Clayton Kershaw, still working his way back, remains unavailable. And on Wednesday, they had to call on reliever Ben Casparius to open a bullpen game against the Cubs, a 7-6 loss.

Which brings us back to the question that won’t go away:

When Will Shohei Ohtani Pitch Again?

Ohtani was initially expected to throw a light bullpen session before Wednesday’s game. That didn’t happen. Instead, he played catch in the outfield. No explanation was offered at first. But a few hours later, Dodgers pitching coach Mark Prior clarified the situation. According to Prior, Ohtani didn’t do any throwing while on paternity leave last weekend. The plan now is to ease him back in with a few sessions of catch before he gets back on the mound. He’s now scheduled to throw his bullpen on Saturday.

Still, the wait continues.

Bob Nightengale of USA Today recently reported that the two-way phenom might return to live pitching around the All-Star break. The Dodgers are playing the long game here, and rightfully so. They didn’t pay Ohtani $700 million to rush him back from injury just to patch up an April rotation crisis. They need his bat every day and his arm in October.

Ohtani is coming off a significant elbow injury. There are only so many pitches in that right arm this year, and using them up in May bullpen games, while he’s still ramping up, doesn’t make much sense. If they have to piece together the fifth spot with Bobby Miller, Justin Wrobleski, Landon Knack, or the occasional bullpen day for another month or two, so be it.

The Dodgers proved last year that they can win plenty of games, and the World Series, without Ohtani on the mound. What they can’t afford is risking his health, or his bat, in the name of short-term stability.