NEW YORK – Shohei Ohtani’s bothersome left knee will make him a one-way player indefinitely.
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Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Ohtani will not start Wednesday in Philadelphia as planned coming out of the All-Star break and will not be part of the Dodgers’ starting rotation for “some time.”
Roberts said Ohtani spoke with the training staff after playing catch this weekend and indicated he was still feeling discomfort in his left knee.
Ohtani was scratched from his last pitching start before the All-Star break and did not attend the All-Star Game so that he could recover from treatment he received last weekend. Ohtani was given an injection of Orthovisc in his left knee. Orthovisc is a lubricant used to relieve knee pain and lubricate the joint.
“He was on the schedule when we broke for the All-Star break,” Roberts said. “And then it was more of the training staff talking to him about, ‘Hey, coming out of the break, how does Wednesday look? How do you feel? If you don’t feel 100 percent, we have the opportunity to just kick the can.’
“The player is always going to want to be out there and participate. But I think it’s more driven by the organization saying, ‘Hey, if you’re not 100 percent right, you don’t have to do this.’”
Roberts said he does not know when Ohtani will pitch again, but “it’s not a day-to-day thing.”
“Honestly, a lot of it is where we’re at and how we’ve put ourselves in a good spot,” said Roberts, referring to the Dodgers’ 12-game lead in the NL West going into Sunday’s doubleheader with the Yankees. “Could he probably do it? Sure. But right now, the benefits just don’t seem to outweigh the cost at this time of the season. So I think we still have plenty of time to get him to a good spot to then pitch.”
Ohtani has said the pain in his knee comes from pitching and doesn’t bother him when he’s hitting. So he will continue to DH on a daily basis. Roberts said
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“He did this pitching,” he said. “When he does swing the bat, it’s the back knee versus the land knee, where you’re kind of driving off of it to create torque when you pitch. And so there’s no feeling of any sensation or any reason why we feel like we gotta stop hitting, no.”
Roberts said he fully expects Ohtani to pitch again this season but acknowledged that “I guess anything is possible,” if the knee issue persists.
The Dodgers planned to go with a bullpen game in the second half of Sunday’s doubleheader and moved right-hander Emmet Sheehan’s next start to Monday in Philadelphia. Sheehan was the scheduled starter for Saturday’s rained-out game. Left-handers Eric Lauer and Justin Wrobleski are on turn for the rest of that series. The team is off on Thursday.
The Dodgers intend to stay with a six-man rotation, Roberts said, even if Ohtani is not part of it. Off days will fill the six-man role at times with bullpen games and spot starters available when needed.
Left-hander Blake Snell made his first rehab start with Triple-A Oklahoma City on Saturday. He faced six batters, struck out four of them and threw 32 pitches.
“The stuff was fine. As far as execution, not great,” Roberts said of the report on Snell’s outing. “Got his pitch count up, so he couldn’t get through two. But for the first one, he’ll be fine.”
Snell will start again on Friday and Roberts said there is no plan to speed up his rehab assignment in order to compensate for Ohtani’s absence from the rotation.
“I think the full buildup, five (innings) and 75 (pitches) and then kind of go from there,” Roberts said.
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