Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani Delays Plan to Throw to Hitters For 1st Time Since Elbow Injury

After the Los Angeles Dodgers played 13 innings in a 7-5 win over the New York Mets on Friday night, Shohei Ohtani has decided to delay his plan to throw to live hitters by one day.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters following the extra-inning win that Ohtani has postponed his planned throwing session until Sunday.

"Shohei's call," Roberts added.

Friday's game didn't end until around 1 a.m. ET as a result of going into extra innings and rain delay of 98 minutes that interrupted the third inning.

Even though Saturday's contest doesn't start until 7:15 p.m. ET, Ohtani apparently decided to give himself some extra time to recover since the series finale on Sunday is also a night game.

Ohtani was originally planning to throw a live batting practice on Saturday at Citi Field. This would have marked his first time throwing to live hitters since undergoing elbow surgery on Sept. 19, 2023.

The three-time MVP's return to the mound was further complicated when he had arthroscopic surgery in November to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder suffered in Game 2 of the World Series.

Even though the procedure was on his non-throwing shoulder, Ohtani's offseason training regimen was delayed as a result. He has been throwing two bullpens per week since regular season started, with a lighter session midweek and a more aggressive one on Saturdays.

Roberts said this week after Ohtani's session on Wednesday that his "stuff looks good" and the fastball velocity was in the 94-95 mph range. That was also the first time he started mixing his slider and curveball.

The Dodgers have been careful not to put a definite timetable on Ohtani's return to pitching in games. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic and Fox Sports noted in early April their goal is to have Ohtani ready to pitch for the postseason.

Los Angeles' oft-injured rotation is once again dealing with injury issues early in the season. Roki Sasaki, Tyler Glasnow and Blake Snell are all on the injured list. Snell was transferred to the 60-day IL last week due to left shoulder inflammation.

At least Ohtani's decision to delay facing live hitters doesn't seem to be injury-related, but rather just a lack of recovery time between games because of how long Friday's contest took to complete.

Even without three key pitchers available right now due to injuries, the Dodgers are one game behind the Philadelphia Phillies for the best record in the NL.

The last time Ohtani pitched was during the 2023 season with the Los Angeles Angels. He posted a 3.14 ERA with 167 strikeouts in 132 innings over 23 starts.