Shohei Ohtani’s Dodgers Pitching Return Nears After Latest Step

The Los Angeles Dodgers are really starting to get healthy in a hurry, with Shohei Ohtani making serious progress towards taking the mound again.

On Friday, August 14th, for the first time in weeks, Ohtani threw a 34-pitch bullpen session, using his entire pitch mix, according to the California Post’s Jack Harris.

Ohtani has not thrown a bullpen since the Phillies series on the road, and that session ended with a setback that caused him to pause his progression.

There was soreness in his left knee after landing on it so many times, and the Dodgers are not going to roll him out if that is the case, out of fear of risking a more serious injury to the arm or shoulder if he changes his mechanics to compensate.

However, by all accounts, since taking a break, Ohtani has felt better in his knee, and he has worked in the background, throwing plyo balls and long tosses.

Now, Ohtani feels good enough to throw a bullpen session, which is the last step before returning as a pitcher in the major leagues.

Upon his return, Ohtani will start out slowly, pitching just one inning or two, just like he did when he recovered from his second Tommy John procedure last year.

Given his current timeline of rehab, it looks like Ohtani will be back on the mound around the start of September, giving him just a handful of starts to get ready.

Can Shohei Ohtani get ramped up in time for the playoffs?

Ohtani can certainly get to the point where he pitches around 80 pitches and five innings if he works his way up diligently.

He already has a ton of innings this season, and while his break has lasted a few months, he should be in shape to go around 20-30 pitches from the start.

Given how important his bat is and the number of pitching options that the Dodgers have, Ohtani will not be pushed extremely hard in the postseason, since Roki Sasaki or Justin Wrobleski can pick up a bulk role.