LOS ANGELES -- The Dodgers have been intentionally slow-playing Shohei Ohtani's buildup as a pitcher, but his progress has gradually accelerated in recent days.
Ohtani mixed in sliders and curveballs in the bullpen for the first time ahead of Wednesday's series finale vs. the D-backs at Dodger Stadium. Since the regular season began, he's been on a schedule of throwing a lighter bullpen session midweek before a heavier throwing day on Saturdays, most recently tossing 50 pitches with an up-down.
The Dodgers have been firm that Ohtani needs to be throwing his entire arsenal before progressing to facing hitters. He appears to be knocking on the door of that, which would be his next major step forward.
"He was spinning it a little bit more in the touch-and-feel," manager Dave Roberts said. "I'm not sure what's to come. Hopefully, he comes out of it well, which is what I would expect.
"And then, we'll see what he does at Citi Field on Saturday, but there might be a little bit more of a progression increase. So we'll see what that means."
Could that mean facing hitters?
"I don't know," Roberts said, "we'll see."
Ohtani has not pitched since undergoing a procedure to repair his right ulnar collateral ligament in September 2023. He also had left shoulder labrum surgery last November that delayed his offseason work and led the Dodgers to approach his return to pitching carefully.
There is no timeline for Ohtani's return to a big league mound, but it likely won't come until sometime after the All-Star break.
"We knew, especially after the left shoulder surgery, we were just going to be a little bit more cautious and make sure that this got to a really good spot before we really started upping the intensity on the pitching side," president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said recently. "And for us, with him coming off that injury, we didn't expect … [to] think it was fair to think about a wire to wire."
Once Ohtani begins facing hitters, the Dodgers will have a better idea of his timeline. The team is not planning on having Ohtani make Minor League rehab starts once he gets to that point; he'll build up through simulated games to get ready for Major League action.
Sonja Chen covers the Dodgers for MLB.com.
