Ohtani throws 1st 'pen session at camp: 'The ball was coming out really good'

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Shohei Ohtani has drawn crowds aplenty in the Dodgers' first week back at Camelback Ranch, with several dozen media members paying close attention to his work and hundreds of fans buzzing with excitement to catch a glimpse of the superstar.

Those who came by on Saturday morning got to see what many in Dodgers camp have been waiting for since spring began: Ohtani threw his first bullpen session, an important step forward as he works to return as a two-way player.

Ohtani threw 14 pitches, all two- and four-seam fastballs. Manager Dave Roberts said he sat 92-94 mph, which he deemed "great" for Ohtani's first session back on the mound.

"The ball was coming out really good," Roberts said. "I think he seemed pretty pleased with it. The command was good, ball was coming out good. Really positive day for Shohei."

After undergoing surgery to repair his right ulnar collateral ligament in September 2023 and having left shoulder surgery last November, Ohtani is expected to be ready for Opening Day as a hitter and return to pitching in Major League games sometime in May.

As he threw, Ohtani was in frequent communication with the coaches and staff behind him, checking the measurements of his velocity and movement to compare them with how he felt on the mound -- although the technology was fading in and out, so he didn't get all of the readings he wanted. When it did work, he would apply the feedback to his next throw.

It was all in line with the methodical, focused demeanor the Dodgers have come to expect from Ohtani.

"He¡¯s very good at knowing what his stuff does," Roberts said, "so a lot of his thoughts aligned with what the metrics said."

With just under a month remaining before the Dodgers leave for Tokyo, Roberts thinks Ohtani could be on track to face live hitters before the team breaks camp. Whether Ohtani will have progressed to the point where he's doing up-downs by then is another question, although that should eventually factor into his buildup.

The Dodgers don't anticipate Ohtani pitching in Cactus League games or going on a Minor League rehab assignment during the regular season. There is a rule that allows two-way players to take part in a rehab outing as a pitcher without needing to be placed on the injured list, but the Dodgers would prefer to keep Ohtani in their lineup as the designated hitter as much as possible.

There's some question, then, of how Ohtani will build up his pitch and inning counts without seeing game action. The plan for now appears to be having him participate in simulated games.

"We run a lot of sim games early on for rehab guys," pitching coach Mark Prior said. "It's probably going to be some version of that. ¡­ How that looks, I don't know exactly, whether it's our guys who are on the bench on the road or if it's at home and we're able to bring in some Minor League hitters like we've done in the past."

The main challenge of bringing back both Ohtani, the hitter, and Ohtani, the pitcher, is that there's no time-tested blueprint to follow for his rehabilitation. Ohtani can draw on his previous experience returning from Tommy John surgery to have an idea of how he can get back to being elite, but it's far more difficult to return from a second major elbow surgery.

In the early days of spring, the Dodgers are breaking up Ohtani's hitting and pitching workloads when they can. That could change as work ramps up toward the end of camp, and looking even further ahead, president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said the team intends to let Ohtani pitch and DH in the same game at some point this season.

In many ways, the Dodgers are largely relying on Ohtani to relay how he's responding to rehab and how best to continue building up as they navigate this uncharted territory.

"What he's doing is incredibly unique and the toll it has, none of us have data points to draw from of, 'Oh, when we were around this, this guy recovered this way,'" Friedman said. "It's so unique that we absolutely need his feedback. He's also so dialed in to how he feels and how his body's doing that it will be an active conversation between all of us."