MILWAUKEE — It’s Oct. 21. The Dodgers are clinging to a one-run lead in Game 7 of the National League Championship Series. It’s the ninth inning against – let’s say the Philadelphia Phillies with Trea Turner coming to the plate.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts waves to the bullpen and calls in – Shohei Ohtani to close it out?
“He’s not pitching for us this year. He’s not,” Dodgers general manager Brandon Gomes said.
The Dodgers have been steadfast from the moment they signed Ohtani in December, saying he will not pitch in 2024, no matter how well his rehab from last September’s elbow surgery goes – and all indications are it is going very well.
“We’ve got a lot of good pitchers,” Gomes said of the hypothetical postseason scenario. “There’s no world where he’s pitching for us this postseason.”
Gomes said it is not even a temptation to use Ohtani as a pitcher this year.
“It’s really not, though,” he said. “Because we have a really talented bullpen as it is. It’s not even big picture as much as – what if he pulls an oblique throwing a live BP and then we lose our DH for the postseason? The upside-downside of it is so out of whack on multiple levels that it’s ‘Let’s not even introduce that.’”
Ohtani started his throwing program right after the Dodgers returned from South Korea in March and has been making a limited number of throws every other day since. He has extended his long-toss out to 150 feet and is increasing the intensity of his throws recently. The Dodgers’ training staff closely monitors Ohtani’s throws, even using a small radar gun to gauge the speed of his full-effort throws. They keep that information to themselves but Ohtani is believed to be touching 90 mph during his flat-ground throwing.
Gomes said Ohtani is on track to start throwing off a mound “towards the end of August or into September with some wiggle room – there’s just no rush.”
There is no rush because the Dodgers intend to put Ohtani’s throwing program on hold at some point in the next two months and then discuss an offseason program with Ohtani and Dr. Neal ElAttrache (who performed both of Ohtani’s elbow surgeries) about when and how to pick it back up in order to prepare Ohtani to pitch in 2025.
If Ohtani continued with his throwing progression at his current pace, Gomes said, “basically he would be going through his biggest buildups at the beginning or the middle of October” at the same time he’s hitting in postseason games for the first time in his career.
“It’s not good for the now,” Gomes said. “It’s not good for the long term.”
PITCHING PLANS
Right-hander Tyler Glasnow’s turn in the rotation comes up again on Friday but the Dodgers will not start him until Saturday in St. Louis coming off his seven-inning outing against the Pittsburgh Pirates last Sunday.
The Dodgers have asked one of their starting pitchers to start on ‘regular rest’ – four days off between starts – a total of only seven times this season. Gavin Stone has done it three times. No one else has done it more than once.
Right-hander Justin Wrobleski is the most likely candidate to be promoted from Triple-A and make a spot start on Friday.
ALSO
Right-hander Landon Knack was returned to Triple-A Oklahoma City in order to activate Walker Buehler from the injured list on Wednesday. Knack recorded his first career save by pitching the final four innings in Tuesday’s win. …
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said reliever Ryan Brasier is on track to complete his rehab assignment with OKC this week and join the Dodgers in St. Louis to be activated off the IL on Saturday. Brasier has been out since April 27 with a calf injury.
UP NEXT
Dodgers (RHP Jack Flaherty, 9-5, 2.97 ERA) at Brewers (RHP Tobias Myers, 6-5, 2.79 ERA), Thursday, 11:10 a.m., SportsNet LA, 570 AM
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