PHOENIX — And on the seventh day, he will rest.
Before Shohei Ohtani took the mound for his 10th pitching start of the season on Wednesday night, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Ohtani will get a full day off on Thursday. It will be the second time in the past three weeks that Ohtani was held out of a game following a pitching start.
“I feel we can empty the tank on the pitching, the hitting side tonight then give him that full day tomorrow whereas a couple weeks ago, I felt he needed two days to kind of reset,” Roberts said. “I think that reset did him well.
“I think him knowing he’s down tomorrow is mentally freeing going into tonight. And so, there is some value in him knowing he can empty the tank and know that he doesn’t have to go to it tomorrow as well.”
In managing Ohtani’s pitching workload in his first full season on the mound since 2023, the Dodgers have used off days on the schedule to give Ohtani a recovery day following a pitching start by backing those starts up against off days three times in his first nine starts (including last week). On May 13, though, they started him as a pitcher only and then also held him out of the game the next day.
Since that mid-May break, Ohtani has had his hottest stretch of the season. Just 6 for 42 before the break. he went 27 for 65 (.415) with seven doubles, two triples, three home runs, 16 RBIs and 13 runs scored in the 17 games after the “reset.” In his first two pitching starts after that, he allowed one run on three hits while striking out 11 in 11 innings and led off each game with a home run.
“I just felt that in talking to him, talking to the training staff, he needed a blow. He needed a reset,” Roberts said. “I do think that the two days – which it never feels good not writing him in the lineup – but the two days did him some good.
“That’s the read-and-react part of it.”
One of the things the Dodgers have learned about Ohtani’s two-way challenge is the need for a recovery day following a pitching start is more important than limiting him to pitching only when he is on the mound.
“Yes. Just because that’s more of the conversations that we’ve had,” Roberts said. “Today is going to be taxing more mentally because he’s trying to hit and pitch. But tomorrow just the overall body soreness and fatigue is something that, if we can manage that, it kind of gives us a chance to get through the next days after.”
Ohtani was off to his worst start offensively since 2020 before this recent surge. At age 31 (he will turn 32 next month), the Dodgers realize his ‘unicorn’ status requires constant monitoring of his workload.
“Shohei, he’s like an exotic car,” Roberts said. “He’s finely tuned … so when it’s out of whack a little bit, it sort of just doesn’t work. He’s very in tune with his body, and so with fatigue, with being sick, with travel, whatever it might be, there’s things that get you out of whack. And so that sort of led to, I think, some of the offensive struggles as well. But again, now I feel like he’s in as good a spot as he’s been all year, tuned in.”
Ohtani has been self-critical about his pitching over his past few starts, showing dissatisfaction with his command in particular even as he put together an 0.82 ERA through his first nine starts.
“I think he’s been so dominant because he’s got a handle on his weapons, his pitches. I think last year he didn’t really have command of his secondary pitches,” Roberts said. “This year, the fastball – albeit the last few outings hasn’t been commanded. But he’s got command of the fastball. He’s got a really good feel for the sweeper, the curveball and the split. Last year – first year coming back from Tommy John – he was just getting a handle (on everything). Right now, verse right, verse left he’s got a lot of weapons.”
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Dodgers (LHP Justin Wrobleski, 7-2, 2.87 ERA) at Diamondbacks (RHP Ryne Nelson, 2-4, 4.82 ERA), Thursday, 6:40 p.m.,SportsNet LA, 570 AM