Shohei slows down pitching, won't face hitters until after Tokyo Series

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- The Dodgers are slowing the pitching side of Shohei Ohtani's rehab as he ramps up as a designated hitter for the regular season, manager Dave Roberts said Thursday. It is unclear how this development will affect Ohtani's timeline to return to a big league mound.

Ohtani has not thrown a bullpen session since Feb. 25, though he has continued to play catch and keep his arm in shape. He is not expected to face hitters until after the Dodgers return from Japan, where they open the regular season against the Cubs from March 18-19.

"As the game has intensified, his work playing in games, it was sort of trying to give him a little respite from the rehab and to slow him down," Roberts said. "We've never really put a time on anything. ¡­ We just felt that to intensify the bullpens alongside the intensity of the games wasn't smart, so we just wanted to kind of slow-play it."

Ohtani's first Cactus League game was Feb. 28, and he's expected to DH in back-to-back games for the first time Monday and Tuesday, the latter being the Dodgers' Cactus League finale.

Ohtani has not taken to a big league mound since undergoing right elbow surgery in September 2023, and left shoulder surgery last November pushed back his offseason program as he worked to build up for a starting role this year.

Earlier in the spring, Roberts and the Dodgers had said that a return to pitching sometime in May would be feasible for Ohtani. That could still be the case, although Ohtani will have to ramp back up as a pitcher after returning from Japan. There is currently no plan for Ohtani to go on a rehab assignment, meaning that the bulk of his buildup as a pitcher would take place in simulated games.

There's no proven guideline to follow for rehabbing a two-way player, other than when Ohtani came back from his Tommy John surgery in 2018. The Dodgers have said all along that Ohtani's return to pitching would require frequent communication in order to progress the right way, and as such, Roberts said that this decision came to be after conversations between Ohtani and the team's training staff.

As for Ohtani's expected return to the mound, Roberts did not provide a specific timeline.

"[We're] just trying to make it a broad time to return. We just don't know," Roberts said. "I think that when he's ready, when the process, the progression, as it's going on, we'll know. But I don't want to put any kind of expectation on ¡­ Shohei.¡±