MIAMI — There has been a lot of talk about Shohei Ohtani possibly pitching if the Dodgers go deep enough in the postseason this year.
Ohtani has not been involved in any of that talk.
“There’s no conversation that was brought about with the pitching coach in terms of pitching in the postseason,” Ohtani said through his interpreter this week. “But we’re going to have a meeting back in L.A. to discuss the overall rehab progression.”
The meeting has nothing to do with Ohtani pitching this year, according to Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman. It is about the optimal schedule that will have him ready to pitch in 2025 and has been planned all along.
“The meeting is about his rehab progression and timing for how to get him ready for next year – which has always been planned to get into,” Friedman said. “If you strip away what’s going on with the Dodgers, right now he’s thrown about five bullpens, which is the equivalent of January, late January in his progression (in a normal offseason buildup) and October lines up at some point middle to late for live BPs like pitchers do when they come to spring training.
“The question is whether to do those then (in October) or do them in November but make sure he has enough shutdown time before the start of the following year. This has been on our radar as something to talk about since spring training.”
The idea of making Ohtani an option to pitch in the postseason is not likely to even be mentioned in the meeting, Friedman said.
“We aren’t even thinking about that right now,” Friedman said. “Again, this is like January for him. He’s just barely a year out from Tommy John.
“To me, he’s not really an option.”
Ohtani has thrown off a mound six times, most recently increasing to 30 throws. For the first time in his throwing program, he threw on three consecutive days – Monday in Atlanta, Tuesday and Wednesday in Miami.
“The whole meeting is about how we handle his rehab to have him in the best position to be ready to go in ’25 while also taking the least amount of toll on him in ’24 because he will have an important job in October as it is,” Friedman said. “Okay – if you suspend it then and do it in November, is that enough time or do you ramp him up and have him a little bit later (at the start of next season)? That’s the stuff we have to get into.
“I don’t know the answer to that.”
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Ohtani was asked if he thought he could be physically ready to pitch at some time during a Dodgers’ playoff run.
“I am not sure,” he said in Japanese – with a sly smile.
PITCHING PLAN
Landon Knack and Jack Flaherty both pitched on four days of rest this week. To avoid doing that this weekend, the Dodgers will push Walker Buehler back to Saturday and Yoshinobu Yamamoto back to Sunday against the Colorado Rockies.
That leaves Friday open for a spot starter or bullpen game. Manager Dave Roberts said he didn’t have a starter to announce for Friday’s game but he expected a roster move before the game to add a pitcher. An opener is likely to start the game.
Left-hander Justin Wrobleski cannot be recalled from Triple-A Oklahoma City unless it is to replace another pitcher going on the injured list. Right-hander Ben Casperius pitched most recently for OKC on Sunday but is not listed as a probable starter for OKC this weekend. He could be recalled.
UP NEXT
Rockies (LHP Kyle Freeland, 5-7, 4.89 ERA) at Dodgers (TBA), Friday, 7:10 p.m., SportsNet LA, 570 AM