SEOUL, South Korea — Six months after his second elbow surgery, Shohei Ohtani has been cleared to start a throwing program.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts confirmed Monday that Ohtani will start a throwing program later this week.
“I know once we get back to the States, he is going to start his throwing program, which he hasn’t started yet,” Roberts said. “We’ll see how that progression goes.”
In a recent interview, Dr. Neal ElAttrache (who performed Ohtani’s surgery last Sept. 19) said if Ohtani “goes along with the throwing program as we have it scheduled,” he could begin throwing to hitters in late September.
Asked about that, Roberts said he hadn’t heard about that timeline.
“I think with Shohei anything is possible,” Roberts said. “But if that’s what Dr. Neal said, then he’s the expert.”
Roberts reiterated that the Dodgers do not expect Ohtani to pitch until 2025. But he did acknowledge the possibility that the Dodgers could consider playing Ohtani in the field later this season if his arm has recovered enough.
“If his arm is healthy enough, we’ll have that conversation,” Roberts said. “I do know he’s not gonna pitch this year. But right now, our only focus is him being a designated hitter.”
Ohtani played a total of 8⅓ innings in the outfield during his six seasons with the Angels (all in 2021).
LONG DAY’S WORK
Because of the limited number of position players, a number of the Dodgers’ position players had to play the full game in one or the other exhibition game this week. First baseman Freddie Freeman got the full workload in Sunday’s game (Saturday night PT) against the Kiwoom Heroes – a 14-run, 17-hit rout that had Freeman going to the plate seven times.
“I did not expect that to happen,” Freeman said before Monday’s game against the Korean national team. “When I walked on deck (for the seventh time), I saw (Dodgers GM) Brandon Gomes in the stands. I gave him (a wave), ‘I’m done….
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