Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic<\/a>). It will be his first time throwing to hitters since his 2023 elbow surgery. Ohtani was initially expected to throw BP on Saturday, but the Dodgers pushed that back after last night\u2019s 13-inning game \u2014 which also featured an early rain delay \u2014 went until 1 a.m. on the East Coast.<\/p>\nOhtani has been throwing bullpen sessions for the past couple months. He got up to 50 pitches last weekend and has thrown his fastball in the mid-90s. Ardaya writes that Ohtani recently began to reintroduce his breaking stuff into those exercises. He\u2019s still not expected to pitch in games until after the All-Star Break.<\/p>\n
The Dodgers face a unique ramp-up process with the three-time MVP. He\u2019s working back from his second major elbow operation. That would have warranted caution even if he were just a pitcher. Every other pitcher would spend multiple weeks on a minor league rehab assignment before returning to an MLB mound. The Dodgers aren\u2019t going to take Ohtani\u2019s bat out of the big league lineup to do that. He required offseason surgery on his non-throwing shoulder after tearing his labrum on a slide during the World Series. They\u2019ll also need to monitor his overall fatigue level as he builds his arm while continuing to hit every day. He has started 49 of their first 51 games at designated hitter.<\/p>\n
That all produces a complicated rehab plan that has moved quite slowly. It has now been 20 months since Ohtani underwent the UCL repair that ended his Angels tenure. It hasn\u2019t at all slowed his offensive dominance, of course. He has followed up last year\u2019s unprecedented 50-50 season with a .302\/.397\/.643 line through 232 plate appearances. He leads the majors with 53 runs and is tied with Aaron Judge, Kyle Schwarber and Cal Raleigh for the league lead with 17 homers.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n