Ohtani: 'Most likely' won't pitch again this season

LOS ANGELES — Shohei Ohtani confirmed Monday night he is “most likely” not going to pitch again this season, a growing reality given his recent injuries and the shrinking calendar, adding that he is “focusing on hitting moving forward.”

“Disappointing,” Ohtani, speaking through an interpreter, said of essentially scrapping his two-way ambitions. “But I want to make sure that when I look back this season that I used this as an experience, a learning experience, and make sure that I use that as something to improve upon for next season.”

First, though, Ohtani needs to worry about his health for this campaign. Monday marked his return to the Los Angeles Dodgers’ lineup after a four-day absence prompted by an accumulation of ailments that manifested themselves in an ugly 10th-inning at-bat Wednesday night, during which he was clearly in pain.

Ohtani, who went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts and a walk in a 6-3 win over the Cincinnati Reds on Labor Day, expressed discomfort along the right side of his neck and into his arm Wednesday night. But he also has spent months dealing with soreness in his left knee. And he saw a right biceps issue from earlier this season flare up during an Aug. 28 bullpen session. That marked the last time Ohtani threw a baseball. The Dodgers don’t know when he’ll do so again, but that is clearly not the priority at the moment.

“Yes, he loves pitching, loves being a two-way player,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “But right now, it just doesn’t make any sense.”

Ohtani said his concern lies mostly with his right biceps and left knee. He was asked whether those ailments have played a part in his recent slump, which saw him accumulate seven hits and 20 strikeouts in 51 at-bats before taking Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday off.

“I should have enough experience to be able to address any kinks or injuries or anything like that with the swing,” Ohtani replied. “I’m going to use this as an opportunity to add on to the experience that I’ve had previously and be able to address it regardless.”

Ohtani, 32, went 8-2 with a 1.79 ERA in 14 starts this season, striking out 95 batters and issuing 26 walks in 85â…” innings. But he hasn’t pitched in a game since July 3 and hasn’t been able to shake the discomfort in his left knee when he steps on the mound. Given the addition of Tarik Skubal to a rotation already featuring Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow, Ohtani’s offense is far more important to the Dodgers than his pitching.

Since the start of July, the Dodgers’ offense ranks 23rd in OPS (.701), 20th in runs per game (4.31) and 23rd in weighted runs created plus (94). Ohtani, slashing .277/.380/.522 with 30 home runs and 11 stolen bases despite his recent slump, can provide a major spark at the top of the lineup. But the Dodgers need him to get hot going into October. And before that happens, perhaps, they need him to get healthy.

Ohtani acknowledged he is not 100% and said he has been doing “supplementary things to be able to make sure that I’m in a good place” for the stretch run. He downplayed the significance that not pitching can have on his ability to recover, noting that “the best mode of recovery is to completely not play.”

Roberts said the team’s medical staff will examine Ohtani on a daily basis to determine his status in the lineup in the near future, but it’s clear that, barring a change, going on the injured list is not an option.

“I’m confident that my overall performance should be better moving forward,” Ohtani said after Monday’s game, which marked his first time speaking to the media since Aug. 17. “I think the thing that I was more focused on was making sure that the pitching wouldn’t cause the worse scenario, which was for me to not be able to play at all.”