Roughly four hours before first pitch Monday night, Shohei Ohtani sat at his locker in the Dodger Stadium clubhouse and prepared for his biggest game of the season.
First, the reigning MVP unwrapped the black compression sleeve he wears when pitching, and pulled it over his prized right arm. Then, he grabbed his bat and a pair of hitting gloves and headed toward the cages.
Advertisement
On this day, each piece of equipment was needed.
For the first time in almost two years, the two-way star would be playing both ways again.
In the Dodgers’ 6-3 win against the San Diego Padres on Monday, Ohtani made his long-awaited return as a pitcher from a September 2023 Tommy John operation, taking the mound in a Dodgers uniform for the first time as the club’s starter while also continuing to serve as their leadoff hitter in the lineup.
Ohtani’s pitching outing was brief, lasting just one inning and 28 pitches. He yielded one run on two hits (a pair of flare singles from Fernando Tatis Jr. and Luis Arraez) and a sacrifice fly from Manny Machado. And while he touched 100 mph with his fastball, his form was far from flawless.
Advertisement
Ohtani’s command looked rusty, the right-hander missing the zone 12 times including one wild pitch. While he got three swing-and-misses, he failed to finish any of his five two-strike counts with a strikeout (though Machado nearly went around on a two-strike sweeper, needing a generous check-swing call from an umpire before lifting his sac fly).
When Ohtani finally retired the side, it felt more like a sigh of relief, with his climbing pitch count already leading to action in the bullpen.
Yet, the occasion was momentous nonetheless; marking the first time since August 2023 that Ohtani had pitched in a major-league game, and showing that even after a second career Tommy John surgery there’s still plenty of life left in his arm.
“To take this on — the physical [toll], talent-wise, the psychology of it — this is a big undertaking,” manager Dave Roberts said. “As people say, he’s a unicorn.”
Advertisement
Read more: Hernández: Cowardly Dodgers remain silent as ICE raids terrorize their fans
Initially, it appeared the Dodgers would have to wait at least another month before seeing Ohtani pitch in a game. Despite some optimism before spring training that Ohtani could resume pitching in April or May, the team had been slow-playing his pitching program ever since the start of the regular season, long ago targeting some time after the All-Star break to add him into their rotation.
“This is such a unique scenario,” general manager Brandon Gomes said. “[We were] making sure we’re not doing anything to put the offensive side in jeopardy.”
In the last couple weeks, however, that calculus started to change.
Advertisement
First, Ohtani impressed coaches and executives in three different live batting practice sessions, working his way up to three innings and 44 pitches in his most recent one in San Diego last week.
Then, in meetings with team officials, Ohtani expressed some concern with continuing to build up in more simulated pregame sessions, relaying the toll it took on his body to pitch several innings in an afternoon before ramping up to DH later the same night.
Dodgers pitcher Shohei Ohtani delivers against the Padres on Monday. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
“The getting hot, throwing a live at 1:30, 2:00, cooling down, coming back, getting ready to lead off the game — I can’t even imagine how taxing that is,” said Gomes, a former big league reliever. “There is no playbook for this. So it had to be an ongoing conversation, and making sure that Shohei is the one driving this conversation.”
Advertisement
In recent days, Ohtani began to direct such conversations in a different direction; especially after the Dodgers indicated that, thanks to his status as a two-way player who wouldn’t take up a pitching roster spot, they were open to bringing him back as a pitcher even if he would initially only throw one or two innings.
“It [was] more of like, ‘Well, I don’t think there’s anything else to do. I’m ready to go. What else do I need to do to get back on a major-league mound?’” Roberts recalled of Ohtani’s message to the team. “You try to treat him like a normal pitcher and a normal ramp-up or buildup. But if [he only needs to be built up for] an inning or two, it’s, ‘Well, I’ve already done that.’”
Thus came the pivotal question.
“‘Can I pitch now?’” Roberts recalled Ohtani asking.
Advertisement
The answer, the Dodgers decided over the last two days, was yes, slotting Ohtani in as an opener in front of bulkman Ben Casparius for Monday’s visit from the Padres.
“It got to the point where [it was], ‘Hey, feels like we should take that next step,’” Gomes said, “and almost look to finish the rehab at the major league level, because of the taxing nature of what he was doing.”
Ohtani’s return to pitching caused a stir around Chavez Ravine. Fans flocked down the left-field line when he emerged around 6:30 p.m. to begin warming up in the outfield. As he threw his pregame bullpen session, more spectators leaned over the railing to watch him. Behind the mound, teammates Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Tony Gonsolin gazed on, as well.
In pregame introductions, Ohtani was announced twice: Both as the starting pitcher and designated hitter (MLB’s rules for two-way players, which were adopted a few years ago in the wake of Ohtani’s rise to stardom, allow for such a distinction in order to let Ohtani keep hitting once he leaves the mound).
Advertisement
And after Ohtani completed the top of the first, he never even stepped foot in the dugout, instead receiving his batting equipment from a ball boy at the top step before going to the plate to lead off the bottom half of the frame.
As a hitter, Ohtani struck out in his first at-bat, but then tied the score with an RBI double in the third before contributing to a five-run rally against Padres starter Dylan Cease in the fourth with an RBI single.
Moving forward, Ohtani will likely continue to serve as an opener roughly once per week; building up to two innings, then three, and so on until he’s able to handle a normal starter’s workload.
Read more: Hernández: How Japan media track down Ohtani’s home-run balls
Advertisement
The exact plan will depend on how he responds to his return to two-way duties, with the Dodgers remaining wary of pushing him too hard on the mound before the stretch run of the season.
“As we said before, this is a unique situation, and making sure that he’s in a good place and we’re just taking it small bites along the way as far as what comes next is incredibly important,” Gomes said. “At each step, we’ll have those discussions and make sure that that is the guiding light, to make sure that he’s feeling as good as possible come October.”
Still, for one night, one inning of watching Ohtani pitch was more than enough.
“We saw it from the other side, from afar, when he was with the Angels,” Roberts said. “So now, I think I got the best seat in the house to watch this guy start and then take an at-bat. This is bananas. So I’m thrilled.”
Sign up for more Dodgers news with Dodgers Dugout. Delivered at the start of each series.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Read the full article here