NEW YORK – Shohei Ohtani postponed a bullpen session scheduled for Saturday due to lingering issues with his left knee.
According to Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, the two-way star felt uncomfortable throwing a 30-pitch bullpen session on Wednesday in Philadelphia. Roberts said hitting and running the bases doesn’t affect Ohtani’s knee. In fact, in the fifth inning of Friday’s 4-2 victory over the Mets, Ohtani tried to stretch a double into a triple, but was thrown out. Ohtani was in the lineup and leading off on Saturday.
“We are not going to move forward [as far as throwing off a mound] until he feels 100 percent confident and we feel 100 percent confident that we should do it,” Roberts said. “He just doesn’t feel 100 percent. I think the last ‘pen that he had, there was a little bit of regression. We want to make sure that doesn’t happen again.”
Despite the setback, Roberts said the Dodgers are not concerned. Ohtani took time off during the All-Star break before resuming his progression with this week’s bullpen. Roberts said Ohtani’s knee is better compared to before the All-Star break.
“You feel you can take the break. You come back and throw your ‘pen and you [feel you] can still build up,” Roberts said. “It wasn’t scheduled, but the thought was he would throw one [on Wednesday] and throw another one today. But it wasn’t to be.”
As a pitcher, Ohtani has been dealing this season, going 8-2 with a 1.79 ERA in 85 2/3 innings. Offensively, he entered Saturday with a slash line of .286/.392/.527 with 22 homers and 61 RBIs.
“Not having him make these last two starts is a bummer for everyone – for him, especially,” Roberts said. “Offensively, he has been really good. I think he could be better, but he is still an MVP.”