Shohei, Roki tuning up for Spring Training debuts

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Shohei Ohtani is back on the attack, and Roki Sasaki is getting close.

Ohtani, the unanimous 2024 National League MVP after the first 50-homer/50-stolen base season in Major League history, took his first live batting practice of the spring Sunday.

Ohtani saw 32 pitches from Minor League right-hander Nicolas Cruz and took 18 swings, facing live pitching for the first time since undergoing surgery Nov. 5 to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder suffered in the World Series.

¡°Shohei looked good," manager Dave Roberts said. "He got a lot of swings off. He said he felt good afterward. He hit a couple of balls hard, which is good to see. I¡¯m excited that he got to face some pitchers. We are still on track for [the] end of next week that he will be in a game DHing."

Right-hander Sasaki, MLB Pipeline's No. 1 overall prospect, meanwhile, threw about 30 pitches in his second bullpen session of the spring, which was held in the indoor cages at Camelback Ranch.

¡°We threw him in a cage and got some technology on him, just to kind of get a baseline for him,¡± Dodgers pitching coach Mark Prior said. ¡°It's something that we do with all of our pitchers, all the way through, up and down through the organization.¡±

Ohtani will make his first appearance in a Spring Training game later this week, manager Dave Roberts said, although a firm date has not been set. He will be in the lineup in the Tokyo Series against the Cubs from March 18-19, where Sasaki is expected to start the second game.

Sasaki is scheduled to make his first spring appearance Tuesday against the White Sox in what Prior called a ¡°hybrid B-game,¡± as Minor League camps have not opened. Blake Snell is to start the Dodgers¡¯ Cactus League game that day.

¡°These first couple weeks [are] really both of us trying to get to know each other and then try[ing] to progress from there,¡± Prior said of Sasaki. ¡°Get him dialed in with some things that he wants to work on.¡±