Ohtani Misses 4th Straight Game as Dodgers Target Monday Return

Q: With his pitching shut down, will Ohtani's unique two-way role ever be truly sustainable without constant injury setbacks?

Probably not in its classic, full-season form. Ohtani can still be a two-way force, but the evidence increasingly suggests it will only be sustainable with tighter workload limits, more built-in rest and periodic tradeoffs between pitching and hitting. The current Dodgers situation underscores that. Since June, Ohtani has dealt with left knee soreness, right biceps discomfort and neck issues, and his pitching buildup appears to have coincided with a sharp offensive dip. Since restarting his throwing program on Aug. 8, he has hit .204 with a .704 OPS and 32 strikeouts. He has not pitched since July 3, then had another setback Aug. 28, leaving virtually no time to ramp back up for this season. That does not mean the two-way model has failed. Ohtani has already proved it can work at an MVP and ace level. Even this season, before the shutdown, he had a .906 OPS with 30 homers and a 1.79 ERA in 14 starts. The issue is less talent than accumulated physical stress. At 32, after two major elbow surgeries and recurring lower-body problems, the margin for error is smaller. The likelier long-term path is a modified version of two-way play: fewer innings, more skipped starts, longer recovery windows and a stronger emphasis on preserving his bat for October. MLB’s roster and IL rules can support his role, but they do not remove the strain on his body. So Ohtani’s two-way future remains real, just probably not as an uninterrupted, everyday experiment over a full season.

3 articles · Updated · MLB.com · Sep 7

Four straight absences have kept Shohei Ohtani out of the Dodgers' starting lineup since Thursday, but manager Dave Roberts said a full Sunday workout could clear him to return Monday against Cincinnati.
Saturday cage work went well, Roberts said, and the club believes four days without throwing or playing have helped ease the health issues that recently affected Ohtani's hitting.
Aug. 28 effectively became the end of his pitching comeback after a setback in Detroit, and Roberts said the calendar now makes a return to the mound this season highly unlikely.
Since restarting a throwing program on Aug. 8, Ohtani has hit .204 with a .704 OPS and 32 strikeouts, a dip that coincided with lingering knee, biceps and neck problems.
The Dodgers considered the injured list but avoided a 15-day absence for the two-way star, opting instead for day-to-day management with the postseason in mind.