Los Angeles Dodgers celebrity Shohei Ohtani is one step nearer to returning to two-way standing. On Sunday, Ohtani confronted reside hitters for the primary time since he underwent surgical procedure to restore his UCL in September 2023.
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Ohtani threw 22 pitches over 5 at-bats to Hyeseong Kim, Dalton Dashing, and Dodgers sport planning and communication coach JT Watkins. Teammates and training workers gathered across the diamond at Citi Area to witness Ohtani take the mound.
He threw two strikeouts, issuing one stroll and a line drive from Kim to proper subject. Ohtani’s fastball sat round 95 mph, however touched 97 mph, in line with Dodgers pitching coach Mark Prior.
Dealing with reside hitters was an enormous feat for Ohtani, however supervisor Dave Roberts defined why the two-way star gained’t be a part of the Dodgers rotation for a while, seemingly across the All-Star break.
“I simply assume that you simply’re speaking about finish of Could, he’s doing his first simulated sport,” Roberts mentioned. “And in concept, you bought to construct a starter as much as 5, six innings. And so simply the pure development, I simply don’t see it being earlier than that.”
Prior echoed the identical sentiment, citing how methodical the Ohtani has been together with his throwing development since spring coaching.
“He has taken a really methodical method to this. We’ve tried to take a really methodical method to this, understanding the individuality of the scenario,” Prior mentioned. “I’ll by no means, and I don’t assume anyone in that room would ever, doubt what he can do. However, you recognize, nonetheless obtained a protracted technique to go. We’ll see the place it comes out on the finish of this yr.”
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Photograph Credit score: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Photographs
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