GLENDALE, Ariz. — It was the shot heard ’round the world – as everything Shohei Ohtani does is.
Ohtani took live batting practice for the first time this spring on Monday, facing pitchers for the first time since his elbow surgery last September. He stood in for five pitches from Ryan Brasier without swinging. Against Blake Treinen, he fouled the first pitch off his foot then later swung and missed to end a five-pitch at-bat.
But in the final round of live at-bats, Ohtani ended a five-pitch at-bat by sending a fastball from J.P. Feyereisen over the center field fence – a meaningless home run nonetheless documented by dozens of reporters and so many cameras that several photographers set up beyond the center field fence. A live broadcast back to Japan might have drawn good ratings – even though it would have aired at 4 a.m. there.
Feyereisen got a text from teammate Evan Phillips immediately after surrendering Ohtani’s first home run as a Dodger.
“Evan said I should go get the baseball and get it signed by him,” Feyereisen said with a smile.
Ohtani declined to speak with the media following his first live batting practice session of the spring – leaving Feyereisen to look up startled to be surrounded by dozens of reporters when he reached his locker after the workout.
“You look at him in the box and it’s like everybody is dead quiet,” Feyereisen said. “‘Shohei is hitting, let’s go watch him.’ It’s cool seeing the following of his and obviously to see him play is awesome.”
Feyereisen didn’t realize his potential co-starring role in Monday’s big media moment.
“I didn’t even know I was facing him, honestly,” he said. “It was just kind of a live BP and there were like 10 hitters in the lineup and these are the guys you could possibly face. When he steps inside the box, he’s just another hitter. That’s how you’re supposed to see it. Obviously with the following that he has, it’s a little different. But it’s still fun to face him.”
Feyereisen also gave up home runs to Chris Taylor and Gavin Lux during his part of the session, which he described as “bad.”
“I think I got the boys right today,” he joked.
Feyereisen is returning from his own surgery, a procedure to clean up the rotator cuff and labrum in his pitching shoulder performed in December 2022. He spent last year rehabbing at the Dodgers’ training complex in Arizona and is optimistic about being ready to open the season with the team.
“I feel pretty good,” he said. “Today was a little shaky. I didn’t feel like I had the best feel of the baseball today as far as even throwing strikes. I didn’t really get ahead of hitters like I’d like to. But it felt good. My arm felt good. So that’s the positive of today.”
BUEHLER PLAN
The Dodgers have decided to delay Walker Buehler’s start to the season as he returns from a second elbow reconstruction surgery and Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said there is “no hard date” for when Buehler will join the rotation. Roberts did say Monday that it’s “probably unlikely” that Buehler would appear in any of the Dodgers’ Cactus League games before they leave for South Korea on March 14.
“I don’t want to put pressure on the training staff or Walker,” Roberts said. “I do know that he is throwing the baseball really well. As the days go on, he’s gonna get very anxious, knowing who he is as a competitor. I just don’t know right now. When he gets into the regular routine of facing hitters, extending, getting some length, then I think it will be more clear to project. But right now, I don’t even know a time to return for Walker Buehler.”
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It seems unlikely that Buehler will pitch any time before May 1, making a spot in the rotation available for at least a month. Emmet Sheehan is the leading candidate to fill that spot with Gavin Stone also competing for starts. Roberts has also mentioned Michael Grove and Ryan Yarbrough as starter candidates. But those two are more likely to open the season in the bullpen to give the Dodgers length.
“There’s a lot of capable arms as far as starters and guys that we have put into spot start roles or relief roles,” Roberts said. “You’re starting to look three, four, five weeks before we have to really make any type of decision. A lot, as we’ve all learned, can change. I think that right now, to kind of try to plug these pieces in, it just doesn’t make any sense.
“I think that right now, build them all up from one inning to two innings to three innings to four innings and, at that point in time, I think we’ll know more.”
ALSO
Neither Ohtani nor Yoshinobu Yamamoto will play in the Dodgers’ first Cactus League game on Thursday, according to Roberts. The Dodgers have not announced a starting pitcher for the exhibition game yet.