{"id":867885,"date":"2026-08-22T22:36:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-22T22:36:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/867885\/"},"modified":"2026-08-22T22:36:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-22T22:36:09","slug":"a-thumbs-up-and-30-pitches-ohtanis-latest-step-back-toward-the-dodgers-mound","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/867885\/","title":{"rendered":"A thumbs-up and 30 pitches: Ohtani\u2019s latest step back toward the Dodgers\u2019 mound"},"content":{"rendered":"

LOS ANGELES (AP) \u2014 Shohei Ohtani<\/a> faced teammate Will Smith in live batting practice on Saturday, but there’s no definitive timeline for the two-way superstar to return to pitching for the Los Angeles Dodgers.<\/p>\n

Wearing long sleeves, Ohtani threw 30 pitches under a blazing sun in 93-degree (34 Celsius) heat and ended the session by giving a thumbs-up.<\/p>\n

Among those looking on were pitching coach Mark Prior and president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman, fellow MVPs Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman, and some of the Pittsburgh Pirates.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re getting there,\u201d manager Dave Roberts said afterward. \u201cIf it were up to Shohei, he’d be in a game in a few days.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ohtani hasn’t pitched in a game since July 3 because of lingering soreness in his left knee, which is his landing leg while pitching.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’d like to think the knee thing is behind us,\u201d Roberts said. <\/p>\n

Ohtani is likely to throw another live session next week. Once he returns to the rotation, Roberts said he’ll be limited to one, two or three innings as part of a slow buildup.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe lives are good because you\u2019re actually facing hitters and you can see the mechanics and how they play,\u201d the manager said.<\/p>\n

The goal is for Ohtani to be able to make full-length starts once the Dodgers begin their quest for a third consecutive World Series championship in October.<\/p>\n

\u201cI could sit here and say, \u2018Yeah, six innings when we start the postseason,\u2019\u201d Roberts said, \u201cbut he\u2019s still got to do the work and get there, and he\u2019s got to pass some tests and markers. That\u2019s probably the goal, but we still got a ways to get there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Tyler Glasnow<\/a> will rejoin the rotation and is expected to start Tuesday in Atlanta. It’ll be the right-hander’s first start since May 6, before he was sidelined with lower back spasms and went on the 60-day IL.<\/p>\n

Glasnow will rejoin a rotation of Tarik Skubal, Blake Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki. <\/p>\n

Roberts said Justin Wrobleski is expected to move to the bullpen when the injured starters return.<\/p>\n

Closer Edwin D\u00edaz played catch Friday while on the 15-day IL with neck inflammation. He’s using the time to rest mechanically after struggling with injuries in his first season with the team.<\/p>\n

Roberts indicated D\u00edaz won’t be rushed back into the closer’s role.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s more of getting him back healthy and then putting him in some softer landing situations to get the confidence, to get the feel and the trust of executing pitches,\u201d he said, \u201cand then at that point in time we\u2019ll go from there.\u201d<\/p>\n

All-Star outfielder Andy Pages<\/a> went on the injured list Saturday with a left hand fracture after getting hit by a pitch from Pirates starter Bubba Chandler a night earlier.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think they\u2019re probably leaning toward some type of surgery,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cFour weeks is the floor for him to be back with us. Like I told him in the X-ray room, the season\u2019s not over for him and we expect him back full health.\u201d<\/p>\n

The team recalled outfielder Alek Thomas from Triple-A Oklahoma City. Thomas was traded to the Dodgers in mid-May from the Arizona Diamondbacks. He’ll play center against right-handed pitchers, while Tommy Edman and Kik\u00e9 Hern\u00e1ndez could see time against left-handers.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

\n See AP\u2019s full MLB coverage here<\/a>\n <\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOS ANGELES (AP) \u2014 Shohei Ohtani faced teammate Will Smith in live batting practice on Saturday, but there’s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":867886,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[102422,2843,102423,102421,6643,49,48,462,82],"class_list":["post-867885","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-ap-online-sports-headlines","tag-ap-top-news","tag-ap-top-news-l-twc-regions","tag-ap-top-news-sports","tag-associated-press","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867885","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=867885"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867885\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/867886"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=867885"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=867885"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=867885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}