DENVER — Los Angeles Dodgers supervisor Dave Roberts not solely has the posh of managing Shohei Ohtani all through the season, but in addition can have the two-way famous person at his disposal because the Nationwide League Supervisor in the course of the upcoming MLB All-Star Recreation in Atlanta.
Nonetheless, whereas Roberts might deploy Ohtani on the mound and on the plate with a purpose to assist the NL within the Midsummer Traditional, he made very clear on Tuesday evening that Ohtani is not going to pitch within the All-Star Recreation.
“No,” Roberts mentioned with a smile when requested about if he deliberate to make use of Ohtani on the mound towards the American League.
That call mustn’t come as too massive of a shock to Dodgers or baseball followers. Coming into Tuesday, Ohtani has thrown simply 2.0 innings in two video games this season after returning to the mound following Tommy John surgical procedure.
With the Dodgers already battling a rash of pitching accidents, it is clear that Roberts goes to do every little thing he can to guard the reigning NL Most Invaluable Participant.
Nonetheless, Roberts did depart the chance open that Ohtani make his third pitching look of the season on Saturday in Kansas Metropolis, saying he was leaving the choice to probably deploy him towards the Royals as “open-ended.”
Whereas Ohtani is not going to pitch within the All-Star Recreation, Roberts mentioned on Tuesday that he deliberate to have him because the NL designated hitter and have him batting lead-off.
“The followers love him,” Roberts mentioned. “He is the most effective participant and it is going to be thrilling for the followers to look at him in Atlanta on the All-Star Recreation.”
Within the second All-Star voting replace supplied on Monday by MLB, Ohtani had gathered greater than 2.5M votes, simply outdistancing second-place Rafael Devers of the San Francisco Giants (1.1M).
He entered Tuesday’s collection opener in Colorado coming off an outing on Sunday in Los Angeles the place he struck out two and had 5 RBI, changing into the primary MLB participant to notch these form of numbers since Washington’s Stephen Strasburg on July 18, 2019.
Ohtani leads MLB with 76 runs scored and ranks first within the NL with a .624 slugging proportion, 26 residence runs, 191 whole bases and 44 extra-base hits.
