NEW YORK -- The Dodgers have been intentionally slow-playing Shohei Ohtani's buildup as a pitcher, but he's about to reach a milestone in his progression.
Ohtani is set to face live hitters ahead of Sunday's game against the Mets at Citi Field, manager Dave Roberts said on Friday. Ohtani has not thrown to hitters since undergoing a procedure to repair his right ulnar collateral ligament in September 2023.
Ohtani also had left shoulder labrum surgery last November that delayed his offseason work and led the Dodgers to approach his return to pitching carefully.
The Dodgers had been firm that Ohtani needed to be throwing his entire arsenal before progressing to facing hitters. He mixed in sliders and curveballs in the bullpen for the first time on Wednesday at Dodger Stadium.
There is no blueprint for rehabbing a two-way player, other than when Ohtani came back from his first major surgery on his right elbow. The process has involved lots of active discussion between Ohtani, the coaching staff and team doctors.
"The stuff looks good. It’s easy 94, 95 mph coming out of his hand. It’s a really good throw," Roberts said.
"I think we’re all anxious to see how it looks to hitters. But when he decides to ramp it up, I’m very anxious [to see] that, too. But it’s all on his schedule. It really is. When he’s going to introduce the slider to hitters, when he wants to really ramp up the velocity, it’s all between him and the doctors."
Since the regular season began, Ohtani has been on a schedule of throwing a lighter bullpen session midweek before a heavier throwing day on Saturdays, most recently tossing 50 pitches with an up-down. There is no timeline for his return to a big league mound, but it likely won't come until after the All-Star break.
"We knew, especially after the left shoulder surgery, we were just going to be a little bit more cautious and make sure that this got to a really good spot before we really started upping the intensity on the pitching side," president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said recently. "And for us, with him coming off that injury, we didn't expect … [to] think it was fair to think about a wire to wire."
Once Ohtani begins facing hitters, the Dodgers will have a better idea of his timeline. The team is not planning on having Ohtani make Minor League rehab starts once he gets to that point; he'll build up through simulated games to get ready for Major League action.
The Dodgers are opting to build Ohtani up through simulated games because they also want to have him in their lineup as much as possible. Ultimately, they'll have to monitor how he feels as he ramps up his workload on the pitching side.
"Shohei is very in tune with his body," Roberts said. "But there is even a possibility where if we feel as he builds up that he’s taxed on a particular Saturday, then he doesn’t play that game. I just don’t know how that works. I really don’t. But I think we should be open to whatever, however he’s feeling."