LOS ANGELES — Another day, another ominous turn in the Shohei Ohtani health saga.
Knee and bicep issues have already downgraded the two-way sensation to a one-way slugger for the remainder of the year.
For the next couple of weeks, though, he is neither.
Ohtani’s insistence on trying to play through aches and pains for the last three months — and the Dodgers’ unwillingness to shut him down and place him on the injured list before it got to this point — had relegated the four-time MVP mostly to spectator status with the postseason just weeks away.
On Wednesday, Ohtani was held out of the lineup for the sixth time in the Dodgers’ last seven games.
And with only 16 games remaining in the regular season, he will now require the IL stint that the Dodgers have spent months trying to avoid.
“It’s the right thing to do,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. “I think that we tried to kick the can as much as we could.”
In Ohtani’s place, the Dodgers plan to call up top prospect Josue De Paula directly from Double-A to make his MLB debut on Friday. De Paula, the No. 6 overall prospect in the sport according to MLB Pipeline, will primarily serve as the team’s DH for the next couple of weeks but could also find some time as a corner outfielder.
The 21-year-old starred at Double-A Tulsa, where he slashed .303/.401/.547 with 27 home runs and 31 steals. But the excitement of adding De Paula is tempered by the reason for his addition.
(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
A week ago, Ohtani went 0-for-4 with four strikeouts in a game against the Cardinals and looked to be in obvious discomfort at the plate, shaking out his arm between half-hearted swings. He was mired in a 6-for-46 stretch without a home run over his last 12 games at that point.
Clearly, Ohtani’s injuries were causing him issues at the plate, despite what he was telling his team and what Dodgers officials were publicly acknowledging. The next day, general manager Brandon Gomes attempted to dismiss what seemed clear to anyone who had watched Ohtani over the last few weeks.
“I just think there’s also just ebbs and flows of the season, and what to attribute things to and what not to is just too hard to say,” Gomes said. “We haven’t had any indication that he’s not feeling good enough physically to go out and play.”
Ohtani then sat out each of the next four games.
(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
The hope was the time off would help Ohtani’s body get to a place where he could bounce back as a hitter. He returned to the lineup on Monday and went 0-for-3 with a walk and two strikeouts.
The Dodgers then planned to give him Tuesday off and continue to sprinkle in off days the rest of the regular season to try to get him as right as possible before October.
But Ohtani was expected to return to the starting lineup for Wednesday’s series finale against the Reds, so it was a surprise when he wasn’t in the lineup again.
“There was a swing Monday that he didn’t feel great on,” Roberts explained Wednesday afternoon. “He hasn’t totally recovered from Monday. So, the thought is to give him today and then huddle up with him, the medical staff, and figure out what’s the next steps.”
Clearly, communication between Ohtani and the Dodgers remains a work in progress.
(Photo by Melina Pizano/Getty Images)
Roberts did not know about Ohtani’s setback the day after that painful swing. Ohtani swung in the cages on Tuesday and was expected to be available off the bench “in a big spot” that night before he reported his discomfort from the previous day’s game.
The main issue this time was Ohtani’s arm, according to Roberts.
“It’s not really localized, and that’s why when you see him a week ago shaking his arm, it’s just the arm,” Roberts said. “So, it’s not specific to elbow or shoulder. It’s just his bicep, arm, but it’s not one specific thing.”
This is not where the Dodgers hoped to be as they ramp up for the playoffs, months after Ohtani first reported his knee and bicep pain.
(Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images)
Ohtani has not pitched in a game since July 3, and every attempt to ramp back up since then invited setbacks that have clearly impacted his performance at the plate. He is slashing .198/.294/.396 since Aug. 8, when he first started back up his throwing program. He is hitting .186 since Aug. 14, when he threw his first bullpen session in more than three weeks.
Those sessions are now done.
On Monday, after months of delaying the decision, Ohtani finally acknowledged that he would shift his focus strictly to hitting — the only logical choice at this point as he tries to get right at the plate.
Two days later, though, he’s now too hurt to even do that.
This will be Ohtani’s first stint on the IL since he joined the Dodgers before the 2024 season.
The Dodgers didn’t place him on the IL on June, when he first reported his knee pain. They didn’t do it in July, when he first reported the bicep issue while he was still dealing with knee pain, which required an injection over the All-Star break.
They didn’t do it a week ago, when he was clearly compromised at the plate, or throughout a second half in which he has a pedestrian .246 batting average and .332 on-base percentage.
“It really hasn’t even been something that we’ve discussed,” Gomes claimed last Thursday.
One week later, though, those discussions picked up.
“I think that we tried to play both sides and try to play him, not play him,” Roberts said. “And then, ultimately, after not playing him for four days and then playing him and not being able to play a day after an off day, it was more just really huddling up and saying, ‘Hey, how are you going to feel on Friday? How are you going to feel on Saturday? Talking to the doctors and training staff, there was not much certainty that he’d be in a much better place. With that, just taking it off the table seemed like the best course of action.”
(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
The timing is not ideal.
Because Ohtani is a two-way player, he needs at least 15 days on the IL. And because he played Monday after the four days off, he will not be eligible to return until Sept. 23. That would give him just five games maximum before the end of the regular season to try to find his rhythm.
In retrospect, Roberts wishes the team handled that differently.
“I think if we look right now, here today, I would love to go back and put him on the IL,” Roberts acknowledged. “But I did feel at that moment in time, we all felt that giving him four days was sufficient.”
Though it wasn’t, Roberts remains confident that Ohtani will return this year. He reiterated multiple times that Ohtani would be in the lineup if the Dodgers were in the postseason right now, and he thinks Ohtani will only need the minimum IL stay.
The question no one can answer is what he’ll look like when he’s back.
If he can’t find his usual form, the Dodgers’ delayed decision threatens to be their undoing.
“He’ll be in a much better place than he was today,” Roberts said. “Is it going to be to 100 percent? Probably not. But I do think that with this time that we’re taking now, he’ll be in an adequate spot to finish the season.”