Inside Dodgers’ meeting with Shohei Ohtani about pitching rehab

Staff Writer

Sept. 26, 2024 7:32 PM PT

Dodgers officials and Shohei Ohtani met last Sunday to discuss the state of the two-way star’s pitching rehab program, president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said Thursday.

However, no concrete decisions were made about how Ohtani would continue his pitching progression next month, when he will also be the Dodgers’ designated hitter in his first career appearance in Major League Baseball’s postseason.

As for the highly unlikely — but also highly tantalizing — idea of Ohtani taking the mound in a playoff game?

“It just wasn’t even talked about,” Friedman said, “because it’s not a thought.”

Instead, Sunday’s meeting centered on a delicate balance Ohtani and the Dodgers will have to strike in October, when Ohtani could be ready to begin facing hitters in live batting practice sessions but will also be serving as the Dodgers’ designated hitter in the playoffs.

This is a conundrum Ohtani and the team anticipated back in spring training, knowing Ohtani was scheduled to reach one of the more taxing stages of his rehab from last September’s elbow surgery — facing hitters in live at-bats — right around the time the club would be attempting to make a World Series run.

So, before the start of the season, the two sides put a meeting on the books: Once the Dodgers clinched a postseason berth, Ohtani would reconvene with club officials to begin to determine the best path forward.

Six months later, Ohtani, Friedman, head team physician Dr. Neal ElAttrache (who performed Ohtani’s Tommy John revision surgery last year) and other members of the team’s training and player performance staff met on Sunday.

And while they didn’t make any firm decisions, they laid out a few potential options for the $700 million offseason signing.

“The question was — and we couldn’t answer it in March — how do we want to handle live BPs?” Friedman said. “With the added adrenaline [of the postseason] and things he will go through that he has not gone through before.”

If Ohtani proceeds with live BPs in October, it would set him up better to make his return to full-time pitching at the start of 2025.

Shohei Ohtani gestures before a game against the Angels at Angel Stadium on Sept. 3.

The right-hander would enter the offseason having already checked off one of the final key boxes of his rehab program. He could potentially then have a relatively normal build-up for the start of next season, which kicks off in late March with an international series against the Chicago Cubs in Ohtani’s home country of Japan.

“It sets him up better to ramp up in February,” Friedman said of the benefits of having Ohtani potentially face hitters in October. “Where, if you throw them later, then having the sufficient downtime [afterward] pushes back that start date [of his build-up for 2025].”

Of course, continuing Ohtani’s pitching rehab into October could also come at a cost.

Hypothetically, Ohtani could throw full-intensity at-bats against hitters in live BPs the afternoon of a playoff game, then have to turn around and serve as the Dodgers’ leadoff hitter later that night.

It’s hardly an unfeasible task for the soon-to-be three-time most valuable player. After all, Ohtani pitched and hit full-time each of the last three seasons, before suffering the second major elbow surgery of his career.

But whether it’s worth the risk — especially given Ohtani’s supreme importance to the Dodgers’ lineup, and the fact he might be on a workload limit as a pitcher next year anyway — remains to be seen.

“[We were] just talking through that in more detail, and trying to loosely get into build-up progression for ‘25, which ties in a little bit to how we finish this year,” Friedman said. “So just really kicking off that conversation and getting into it. I wouldn’t say there were any firm decisions made.”

Ohtani, who has been playing catch since the start of the regular season and throwing bullpen sessions since last month, didn’t express a preference for his October plan during the meeting, Friedman said, but did ask “thoughtful questions” of ElAttrache and others in the room.

As far as next steps, Friedman said Ohtani will “get through some more bullpen progressions, and then meet again” with the club to decide how to handle his pitching rehab next month.

“It’s something that there’s not a clear answer to,” Friedman said. “So the question is, what is the prudent route and how does his body feel as we continue through his bullpen progression.”

One thing that was not explicitly discussed in the meeting, according to Friedman, is whether Ohtani could potentially pitch in a relief role during this year’s playoffs — a remote possibility that manager Dave Roberts raised, though later walked back, earlier this month.

Ohtani hasn’t said much publicly about that idea, other than acknowledging last week that he was “not sure” whether he could physically handle it.

And while Friedman stopped short of saying the possibility was officially off the table — “I don’t operate in that world,” he said — he reiterated that it’s “just not something that was even a thought for us.”

Friedman was presented with one extreme hypothetical in which he’d be in favor of Ohtani taking the mound this postseason; say, if the Dodgers somehow ran completely out of other pitching options in Game 7 of the National League Championship Series, leaving either Ohtani or a position player such as Kiké Hernández to close out a game.

“I would go with Ohtani,” Friedman said with a laugh.

Outside of that, however, the question Ohtani and the Dodgers are contemplating right now isn’t whether he’ll pitch in real games in October, but rather if having him begin live BPs now (and increase his chances of being ready to pitch by opening day next year) is worth any potential risk to his offensive postseason production.

“Him pitching in Tokyo would be great,” Friedman said. “But we can’t potentially have any negative repercussions this October to do that for next March.”

What was (and wasn’t) discussed in Dodgers’ pitching meeting with Shohei Ohtani

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