Shohei Ohtani’s return closer: Dodgers player takes major step away from surgery as his return becomes clearer

Shohei Ohtani inched a step closer to a full return as a pitcher on Sunday as he faced live hitters for the first time undergoing Tommy John surgery on a torn UCL in September 2023.

Ohtani threw 22 pitches in a simulated inning on Sunday at Citi Field to move to the next level in his ongoing recovery. He threw pitches over five at-bats including ntwo strikeouts to Hyeseong Kim, Dalton Rushing, and [Dodgers coach staff member] J.T. Watkins.

Ohtani up against live batters for the first time in 18 months

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was happy with how the two-way star performed. “It was good, it was fun to watch,” he told reporters. “I think he was having fun with it. I think we got something out of it - 22 pitches, touched 97 (mph), there were some sweepers, some cutters, two-seam, four-seam and so I thought it was a good first step”.

He continued, “Y’know, I’ve gotten so used to seeing him as a hitter and so to see him on the mound just solely as a pitcher, it was different. And certainly exciting for all of us. I think that he was certainly working and progressing but I think he was certainly having fun with it. And obviously there was a lot of attention to it - a lot of his team mates were here watching and supporting too”.

Once again the manager wouldn’t be drawn on giving a specific date when Ohtani might return to the rotation, he concluded, “Obviously we can all speculate that there’s going to be another live next weekend. But that’s all contention on how he feels in the ensuing days and obviously Wednesday seems like the logical day for him to throw out and touch to stick with his routine, but once we keep getting to the day we can figure out where we’re at”.

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