NEW YORK — They were the 22 most important pitches ever thrown in an empty stadium on a Sunday afternoon.
Shohei Ohtani returned to a big-league mound for the first time since August 2023, even if it was just for a brief live batting practice session against two teammates (Dalton Rushing and Hyeseong Kim) and one coach (gameplanning coach J.T. Watkins).
Ohtani clearly enjoyed the moment, a significant step forward in his return from a Tommy John revision surgery 20 months ago. After he handled a comebacker from Kim, Ohtani pantomined a throw to first base and joked with Kike’ Hernandez (one of the many teammates who gathered to watch the session) that he didn’t need to wear the kind of protective helmet Hernandez wore during his pitching appearance earlier this season. After striking out Watkins, he imitated an umpire making a third strike call.
“He’s having fun,” Dodgers pitching coach Mark Prior said. “He’s a baseball player. He enjoys playing the game. He wants to be out there obviously. He does it every day on the hitting side, but he’s looking forward to pitching.
“I think today was great because he was able to keep the mood light but able to maintain some real stuff at the end. I think that’s always important. He didn’t look like he was having stress or be under stress and amp up to try to generate any of his power. He was loose and it was all free and easy so that’s always positive.”
According to Prior, Ohtani threw “mostly fastball, sinkers, cutters, mixed in two sweepers and a split.” His velocity was mostly 94-95 mph on the fastball but he hit 96 and 97 a couple times, Prior said.
“There were a couple that he let loose,” Prior said. “Cutter was in a good spot. Split was right around 88 (mph). Like I said, the stuff is there.”
Kim was the only one to put a ball in play against Ohtani – the comebacker and a line drive laced into the right-field corner that was “ruled” a triple by the coaches on hand, a ruling mildly disputed by Ohtani.
It was fun,” said Rushing who batted just once against Ohtani. ”You get to face a guy like that – he’s arguably one of the best players overall, ever. What he does on a mound is pretty special as well as in the box. You get to face a guy like that, it’s pretty fun.”
It might not have been as much for Watkins, who provided a right-handed bat – Ohtani was reluctant to throw to any of the team’s right-handed hitters, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.
Watkins played two years in Class-A in the Boston Red Sox’s system, where he was a teammate of Mookie Betts. In his second time up against Ohtani, he walked on five pitches – and tossed his bat in the air triumphantly.
“One, I thought he was too far off the plate,” Prior joked. “I really wish he would’ve had his West Point uniform on (Watkins played for Army) and he probably threw the nastiest pitches to him, so it was very – it was already unfair and then he compounded it and made it even more unfair.
“But I’ll give J.T. a lot of credit. He got a lot of respect for just getting in the box and taking his shot.“
Ohtani is expected to continue his weekly schedule of a light throwing session on Wednesday and a more intense session on Saturday. Prior said there will be discussions with Ohtani this week about whether he feels ready to repeat a live BP session next Saturday.
“I’ve gotten so used to seeing him as a hitter so to see him on the mound just solely as a pitcher, it was different and certainly exciting for all of us,” Roberts said.
PHILLIPS CONCERN
A number of the Dodgers’ injured players are progressing towards returns – Blake Treinen, Tyler Glasnow and Blake Snell have all started throwing programs, and Roki Sasaki could start throwing next week.
But Evan Phillips has not picked up a baseball to start a throwing program. Phillips was placed on the Injured List with forearm discomfort and received a platelet-rich plasma injection almost three weeks ago. But he is not pain-free and hasn’t been cleared to start throwing.
“It’s starting to get a little concerning,” Roberts acknowledged. “I don’t know how long we can give it until he can attempt to start playing catch again. I’m getting a little kind of concerned, but hoping for the best.”
NEW MAN
The Dodgers dipped into the DFA bin to add another pitcher on Sunday, signing veteran right-hander Chris Stratton. Stratton, 34, was designated for assignment by the Royals earlier this week and released on Saturday.
Bobby Miller was optioned back to OKC and J.P. Feyereisen was DFAed to clear spots on the active and 40-man rosters for Stratton.
A first-round pick out of Mississippi State, Stratton started his career with the San Francisco Giants but the Dodgers will be his seventh team in 10 big-league seasons. He had a 7.94 ERA in 12 relief appearances with the Royals before his release.
Stratton will fill the same type of multi-inning relief role that Matt Sauer filled before he was sent back to OKC to make room for Miller this weekend.
ALSO
Reliever Michael Kopech made his sixth appearance on a rehab assignment with Triple-A Oklahoma City on Sunday. He walked a batter then retired three in order during his inning of work.
After having at least two days off before each of his previous rehab appearances, Kopech had just one day in between outings on Friday and Sunday. He will pitch on back-to-back days before the Dodgers will activate him from the Injured List.
UP NEXT
Dodgers (RHP Yoshinobu Yamamoto, 5-3, 1.86 ERA) at Guardians (RHP Gavin Williams, 4-2, 3.94 ERA) Monday, 3:10 p.m., SportsNet LA, 570 AM