Ohtani throws off mound in first bullpen session since paternity leave

LOS ANGELES -- Shohei Ohtani threw off the mound ahead of Saturday's game against the Pirates, marking his first bullpen session since going on paternity leave last week.

Ohtani threw 31 pitches in his most recent session, manager Dave Roberts said, and is still only throwing four-seamers, two-seamers and splitters. The big next step, facing hitters, will not take place until the 30-year-old is working with his entire pitch mix.

Per Roberts, Ohtani is expected to resume the general throwing schedule he's been on during the regular season: throwing a light session on Wednesdays, followed by a full bullpen on Saturdays. He did not throw last Saturday while spending time away from the team for the birth of his daughter, and he only played catch rather than throw off the mound last Wednesday because of the layoff.

The timeline for Ohtani to return to the mound remains indefinite. The Dodgers had previously been aiming for sometime in May, before Ohtani's progression as a pitcher was paused ahead of the Tokyo Series.

Rather than targeting a particular return date, the team is focused on bringing Ohtani back the right way from the right UCL repair he underwent in September 2023, his second major surgery on his pitching elbow. Ohtani did not have a full offseason to build up on the mound because he had left shoulder labrum surgery last November.

"It's going to be a week by week [process]," general manager Brandon Gomes said Saturday. "We have a general sense, we've got to make sure that he's feeling good and we're being smart so we can't lose the offensive side of it as well. … In a lot of these rehabs, you kind of set a date and work backward. I think on this one, you're moving forward, because it's a one-of-one type thing."

Gomes reiterated that the team does not plan on having Ohtani make any Minor League rehab starts, in part because it would be logistically difficult to keep his bat in the lineup. That means that Ohtani would primarily use simulated games to build his pitch and inning counts.

Once Ohtani resumes facing hitters, the Dodgers should have a better idea of a prospective timeline. But there are several boxes to check before he gets to that point, among them mixing in offspeed pitches and doing an up-down in the bullpen.

One thing is for certain: the team is not planning on rushing Ohtani back. The Dodgers want him at his best -- both at the plate and on the mound -- down the stretch and during the postseason.

"Even if you're talking about Spring Training and a normal buildup for a pitcher, you're still looking at a couple months [from now]," Roberts said. "I just don't know what that even looks like, if it's before that or after. You just kind of look at the natural progression on what it entails, and understanding that we need to build him up as a starter as well, which takes time."