Two-way star Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers skipped his scheduled bullpen session on Saturday as he continues to be bothered by pain in his left knee.
Ohtani experienced soreness after his previous session on Wednesday and the Dodgers decided to be cautious and held him out three days later.
“We are not going to move forward until he feels 100% confident and we feel 100% confident that we should do it,” Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts told reporters before a game against the New York Mets. “He just doesn’t feel 100%. I think the last ‘pen that he had, there was a little bit of regression. We want to make sure that doesn’t happen again.”
Ohtani, 32, withdrew from the recent All-Star Game due to ongoing discomfort and received treatments during the break.
Ohtani has stated that the knee isn’t bothered by hitting and Roberts reiterated that on Saturday.
“From his words, the hitting, the running, as he has done the last couple of nights, doesn’t affect him,” Roberts said. “So, I can only go by what him and the training staff are telling me. Unless I hear otherwise, that hitting compromises his health, then I’m going to keep putting him out there.”
Ohtani last pitched for the Dodgers on July 3, giving up three runs in six innings in a no-decision against the San Diego Padres.
Ohtani is batting .286 with 22 homers and 61 RBIs in 95 games. As a pitcher, he is 8-2 with a 1.79 ERA in 14 starts.
Ohtani is a four-time MVP, winning the award twice in the American League with the Los Angeles Angels and twice in the National League with the Dodgers.
