LOS ANGELES -- A day after clubbing two home runs in Friday's series-opening win over the New York Yankees, Shohei Ohtani took the mound Saturday afternoon at Dodger Stadium to throw his second live batting practice session in a week as his progression from elbow reconstruction surgery continues.
Once again pitching in front of a large crowd that included teammates, coaches, team executives and media, Ohtani threw 29 pitches over two simulated innings, a step forward from the 22-pitch simulated inning he logged last Sunday at Citi Field in New York.
He used his entire arsenal -- four-seam fastball, sinker, cutter, sweeper and splitter -- against two Dodgers minor leaguers. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts estimated Ohtani's fastball velocity sat in the mid-90s again; last weekend, Othani's fastball sat between 94 and 95 mph and touched 97 mph.
The tentative plan is for the Ohtani to throw one live batting practice session every weekend, adding to the workload each session. He emphasized Ohtani still has "a ways to go" before he makes his season debut on the mound.
"Whether it's another two-inning stint next week on Saturday, or getting into three, I'm not sure," Roberts said. "But that's kind of the program."
The 30-year-old Ohtani wasn't as sharp Saturday as he appeared last week. He induced two groundouts in the first two at-bats but followed those with a four-pitch walk before the session was interrupted to simulate an up-down. From there, he struck a batter out looking and yielded three consecutive hard-hit balls: a line drive through the left side, a long flyball that one-hopped the wall in right-center field and a line drive to left field.
"I think he wishes his command would have been a little bit better," Roberts said. "But really positive day for Sho."
Ohtani hasn't pitched in a game since logging 1⅔ innings with the Los Angeles Angels on Aug. 23, 2023. He underwent a second elbow reconstruction the next month. Ohtani's return to pitching would provide a boost to a club that has 14 pitchers on the injured list.
In the meantime, the reigning National League MVP has continued as the best hitter in the sport not named Aaron Judge. Ohtani began Saturday leading the majors with 22 home runs. He was third in OPS (1.064) and wRC+ (187) behind Judge and teammate Freddie Freeman. His 11 steals were tied for 12th across the league.
"I think the thing that's most impressive is his ability to compartmentalize," Roberts said. "I mean, he's essentially doing the work of two players. And to still go out there and perform on the offensive side, it's pretty remarkable."