CNN
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The Los Angeles Dodgers set fire to a frenzy Sunday evening when two-way superstar Shohai Otani announced that Dodger Blue would mark the long-awaited first start from the mound on Monday night.
The three-time MVP has not pitched in the game since he played for the Los Angeles Angels on August 23, 2023. It’s 663 days between the pitching appearance. And it’s 663 days since fans were able to get a glimpse of his evil four-seam fastball and splitter.
Otani threw the first simulated plate appearance at the end of May. At the time, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said he didn’t see pitching in the 30-year-old’s game until after the All-Star break in July. Otani then threw two more live sessions.
Even on Sunday afternoon, Roberts said he doesn’t know exactly when Otani’s highly anticipated pitching return will come.
“Shohei is getting uneasy. This is good for us. So we don’t know which day he will open, but there’s a good chance he’ll open for us in the next few days,” Roberts said after a 5-4 victory over the Giants.
How quickly things seemed to escalate when the Dodgers tweeted on Sunday evening: “Shohei Ohtani will be the starting pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers with the San Diego Padres tomorrow night.”
As Roberts previously argued, the four-time All-Star has not yet been built as a starter, so Monday’s match against the Padres will be used as openers.
“He’s ready to pitch in major league games,” Roberts said. “I think it’s driven by the fact that it doesn’t necessarily have to be a typical starting pitcher ramp up.”
Due to Ohtani’s two-way player status, he does not rely on the team’s 13 pitcher spots on a 26-man roster. In that way, Roberts can give him real game experience without emphasising occupying the relief pitcher’s place.
“It could continue to carry on this process and he feels ready to go to one or two innings to tax the game, and in that sense it’s not surprising,” Roberts said.
“A week ago we were talking about another live show and potentially we could get to four innings and something like that. But the conversation, the confidence he has, that’s when it comes to going.”
Following Otani’s final game from the Gum as an Angel in August 2023, he underwent procedures to repair the right ulnar collateral ligament in the elbow in September 2023. It was his second surgery on his right elbow. He then underwent surgery on his left shoulder this past offseason, with the Dodgers becoming even more cautious with a record-breaking signature.
Every season seems to be a record season for Japanese stars, but the 2024 season really took the cake. Before the season, he signed the largest contract of the time in North American sports history when he wrote a 10-year deal with the Dodgers. He then hit home runs over 50 years old to steal bases over 50, stealing career-high bases with batting averages and home runs, and was selected again as an All-Star, earning his first World Series ring and unanimously voted for National League MVP (winning the third unanimously). Otani remains the only player to win multiple times unanimously.
The right-handed pitcher had a 3.01 ERA before the pitching layoffs.
“I feel like it was the norm for me to be a two-way player in the past, so last year was a truly extraordinary year.