Shohei Ohtani made his first appearance on the mound of spring training on Wednesday. He sure looked like Shohei Ohtani.
The two-way superstar threw 4 1/3 shutout innings against the San Francisco Giants, striking out 4 while walking 2 and allowing only 1 hit. He threw 61 pitches total and topped out at 99.9 mph per Baseball Savant.
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He didn’t hit, however.
Ohtani has spent much of spring training with the World Baseball Classic’s Japan team, working only as a designated hitter for a team that came up short against eventual champion Venezuela in the quarterfinals.
Entering Wednesday, Ohtani had played only one spring training game for the Dodgers. However, he’s been stretching out as a pitcher behind the scenes and was slated to throw three or four innings on Wednesday, eventually going out for an extra batter in the fifth inning.
It was initially thought Ohtani would only be able to make one spring training start, but MLB.com’s Sonja Chen notes that Japan’s early exit opened the door for him to make two. The next will likely be in the Freeway Series against the Los Angeles Angels, shortly before the season begins, and he is reportedly expected to both pitch and hit then.
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After spending the first season of his Dodgers career only as a designated hitter and waiting until mid-June to start pitching last year, Ohtani is slated for his first full year as a Dodgers pitcher. It’s likely the Dodgers are conservative with him throughout the season to preserve his arm for the postseason, as he has never thrown more than 166 innings in a season and pitched on less than five days’ rest only once.
The Dodgers are slated to break camp with Ohtani in their rotation alongside reigning World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto (who has already been announced as Opening Day starter), Tyler Glasnow, Emmet Sheehan and Roki Sasaki. Blake Snell and Gavin Stone will begin the season on the injured list, with Justin Wrobleski and River Ryan looming as options for a sixth starter.
