After Los Angeles Dodgers-Superster Shohei Ohtani had collected his 1000th career hit on Wednesday through a two-run home run in the third inning, his answer was to hit the side when he returned to the hill in the top of the fourth.
De Eenhoorn only allowed two hits, a deserved point over four innings, and hurled a season-high eight strikeouts in his eighth start of 2025.
President of baseball operations Andrew Friedman claimed that according to Ohtani this is just the beginning.
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“I think it’s more about evaluating after every outing,” said Friedman. “We do this in a very methodical way and we will continue to build. Where that stops, we don’t know for sure. We keep checking how he holds his things, how his body reacts, all those different insights that we can get after every outing. But we will continue to build up. Against where and what does that mean, we are not sure yet.
“But we want to be sure and do it in a very methodical way in his first year. He has designed pitching for eight years afterwards and we want to make this possible if we can.”
The slow play for the return of Ohtani has been something that the patience of many has tested in the baseball world, but something that is worth more with apparently every start.
When the triple MVP first started with his progressions to return to the hill, the expectation was built quickly, but the expectation was always to take one pitch at the same time. It would be extremely unwise to lose a bat like Ohtani if he would leave for a rehabilitation assignment in Triple-A, so the rehabilitation assignment is essentially in the form of his methodical return.
The immediate hope is that Ohtani can still pitch the same sharp and effective innings in October, but Friedman rightly looks further on the road according to the wishes of the two -way star.
The novelty of looking at Ohtani who break a home run and then hit the side is certainly unique, but it may be the reality of the Dodgers for most of the next decade.
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Photocredit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagnen Pictures
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