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Shohei Ohtani took the mound for the first time this spring on Saturday.
The Dodgers’ two-way superstar threw 14 pitches in his return to the rubber, all two-seam and four-seam fastballs, in front of 1,000 fans in Glendale, Arizona, according to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale.
Ohtani, 30, earned rave reviews from his manager.
“I thought it was great,’’ Dodgers skipper Dave Roberts told reporters. “Just kind of seeing his delivery, which was really good, the clean arm stroke. … Gosh, the velocity, the ball was coming out really good. I think he seems pretty pleased with it, and the command was really good. So really positive.’’
Ohtani was reportedly hitting between 92-94 mph on the radar gun, which is not a far cry from where he would normally be velocity-wise mid-summer.
“He was looking early on velocity, and then he was looking for his two-seamer, the depth and movement of the two-seamer,’’ Roberts added. “So just to kind of line it with what he feels. But it’s interesting that he’s very good at knowing what his stuff does, and so a lot of his thoughts line up with what the metric says. So out here, first day is great.’’
The bullpen session was part of a long recovery period for Ohtani, who underwent elbow surgery in September 2023 and didn’t pitch at all in 2024.
Ohtani is coming off a monster 2024 season, winning the National League MVP award in his first season with the Dodgers as a DH, hitting .310/.390/.646 with 54 home runs, 130 RBIs and 59 stolen bases.
Earlier this month, Ohtani told reporters at DodgerFest in Los Angeles that he wasn’t sure when he’d get back on the mound in a major league game.
Roberts said then that Ohtani coming back to the mound in May “sounds about right.”
