Los Angeles superstar Shohai Otani is one step closer to returning to two-way status. On Sunday, Otani faced a live batsman for the first time since undergoing surgery to repair his UCL in September 2023.
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Otani threw 22 pitches in five batters, to Heisen Kim, Dalton Rushing and ‘ game planning and communications coach JT Watkins. Teammates and coaching staff gathered around the diamonds at Citifield and witnessed Otani taking the mound.
He threw two strikeouts and issued one walk to the right field from Kim and one line drive. Otani’s fastball sat around 95 mph, but according to Mark’s pitching coach, Mark Mark, he touched 97 mph.
Facing with a live hitter was a great feat for Otani, but manager Dave Roberts explained why the two-way star won’t be taking part in the rotation for a while.
“I think we’re talking about the end of May. He’s playing his first simulated game,” Roberts said. “And in theory we had to build a starter up to five or six innings, so we don’t know that it’s just natural progression and that’s what happens before that.”
Previously, I reflected the same sentiment by citing how systematic Otani was in the progression he threw since his spring training.
“He took a very systematic approach to this. We took a very systematic approach to this and tried to understand the uniqueness of the situation,” Prior said. “I never do it, and I don’t think anyone in that room will doubt what he can do. But you know, there’s still a long way to go. See where it will come out at the end of the year.”
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Photo credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Immagn Image
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