By Fabian Ardaya New York Times
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NEW YORK — Shohei Ohtani’s pitching rehabilitation from a second major elbow ligament reconstruction is taking its latest, largest tangible step.

The Los Angeles Dodgers’ two-way star is slated to face hitters on Sunday at Citi Field, his first time doing so since undergoing his second operation in September 2023 and the biggest indicator yet of a timeline for when the reigning National League MVP could pitch for the first time in a Dodger uniform.

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Ohtani has been expected to pitch at some point after the All-Star break. The three-time MVP has been taking his progress slowly under the recommendation of team officials and Dr. Neal ElAttrache, who performed the Tommy John revision and internal brace procedure.

The organization’s pacing of Ohtani’s rehab was influenced in part due to wanting to keep Ohtani’s productive bat at the top of their lineup, as well as by the surgery Ohtani underwent to repair a torn labrum on his left (non-pitching) shoulder last November. Ohtani has remained as effective as ever at the plate, hitting 17 home runs to tie Kyle Schwarber for the major-league lead. He trails only his teammate, Freddie Freeman, among National League hitters with a 1.053 OPS entering Friday.

The ramp-up has started.

Ohtani, who has been sitting comfortably around 94 to 95 mph in most bullpen sessions, recently incorporated breaking balls off the mound and threw 50 pitches in his latest full session last Saturday. Now, he’ll face some of his teammates as he builds up intensity and workload for the Dodgers’ stretch run.

Still, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Friday, “I don’t think anyone knows how the next couple months are going to look.”

One certainty is that Ohtani will not take a minor-league rehab assignment to build up, meaning there will be several situations like Sunday where the Japanese superstar will face his teammates or select Dodgers minor leaguers hours before leading off as the team’s designated hitter.

“Obviously the buildup is important,” Roberts said. “But so is him taking five at-bats in a game.”

Ohtani’s pitching progression might still have an impact on how often he is in the lineup, with Roberts saying there could be occasions for Ohtani to get a day off during this build-up period if he communicates any excess fatigue with the organization’s medical staff.

History would back up the need for caution. Ohtani’s recovery from his 2018 Tommy John surgery included a similar interruption of the typical timeline — the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic altered his throwing schedule — and Ohtani returned to make just two brief appearances on the mound before a forearm strain ended his abbrievated season on the mound. Ohtani also struggled as a hitter that season before he returned to two-way dominance in 2021 en route to his first MVP award.

The Dodgers likewise have a recent example of the checkered track record for pitchers initially coming off a second major ligament reconstruction, as Walker Buehler struggled for much of the 2024 regular season before emerging as a postseason hero during the Dodgers’ World Series run and earning a one-year, $21.05 million deal with the Boston Red Sox.

Ohtani’s pending return is one of several the Dodgers are expecting this summer from big-name recent signings, with Tyler Glasnow, Blake Snell and Roki Sasaki all on the injured list with shoulder troubles. Glasnow threw his first bullpen session on Friday since his placement on the IL and came away encouraged, per Roberts. Snell remains in the early stages of a throwing progression, while Sasaki has not picked up a baseball since landing on the injured list a week and a half ago.

Their relative uncertainty makes Ohtani’s looming return all the more important.

“I think we’re all anxious to see how it looks to hitters,” Roberts said. “But when he decides to ramp it up, I’m very anxious with that too. But it’s all on his schedule. It really is.”

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

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