The pitching rehab of Shohei Ohtani will progress to another stage this weekend as he will face hitters on Sunday at Citi Field. Ohtani has been expected to pitch at some point after the All-Star break.
The organization’s pacing of Ohtani’s rehab was influenced in part due to wanting to keep Ohtani’s productive bat at the top of their lineup, as well as by the surgery Ohtani underwent to repair a torn labrum on his left (non-pitching) shoulder last November.
Ohtani has been sitting comfortably around 94 to 95 mph in most bullpen sessions and also began throwing breaking balls off the mound.
Ohtani will not take a minor league rehab assignment ahead of his return to the mound.
“Obviously the buildup is important,” Dave Roberts said. “But so is him taking five at-bats in a game.”
The Dodgers currently have a trio of starters in Tyler Glasnow, Blake Snell and Roki Sasaki each on the injured list with shoulder troubles.
“I think we’re all anxious to see how it looks to hitters,” Roberts said. “But when he decides to ramp it up, I’m very anxious with that too. But it’s all on his schedule. It really is.”
