Shohei Ohtani takes an important step in push to

Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani took the bullpen mound at Dodger Stadium, with president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and pitching coach Mark Prior wanting on, and started his first bullpen throwing session in more than three weeks.

Friday marked an important step in Ohtani’s throwing development. He threw 34 pitches before the Dodgers’ 3-1 win over the Milwaukee Brewers. According to supervisor Dave Roberts, he threw his full arsenal of pitches.

“I’m pretty confident that if we stay the course, he’ll throw a ‘pen in two, three, four, five days,” Roberts said. “And then, if we get out of that, I think we’ll be out of the woods.”

Although Ohtani hasn’t landed on the injured record for lingering inflammation and soreness in his left knee, he hasn’t pitched in a sport since July 3.

After Ohtani obtained a lubricating Orthovisc injection in his knee at the start of the All-Star break, the Dodgers hoped he would pitch against the Philadelphia Phillies on July 22. But as they monitored his response, it turned clear he wasn’t going to be prepared.

Instead, Ohtani threw a 31-pitch bullpen. But his recovery regressed, and he was shut down from throwing.

“At the end of the day, he wants to be healthy,” Roberts said earlier this week. “He wants to be there in the postseason. I think that did check him up. If you look at how we kind of paused things — we all want to be smart and careful. I’m happy that we’ve done that with him.”

Ohtani restarted catch play on Aug. 7. And after taking part in catch three more days this week, Ohtani and the Dodgers decided he was prepared to throw off the mound again.

“Rather than rush the progression of this I would rather make sure we’re headed in the right direction,” Ohtani said last week. “Making sure we’re taking the right steps.”

Ohtani is anticipated to go through a bullpen development and then advance to throwing live batting apply. Roberts didn’t have an precise schedule for those steps but he estimated Ohtani would need one or two more bullpens and no fewer than two live BPs.

Because the Dodgers need to keep Ohtani in the lineup, he’ll have to construct up in video games reasonably than going on a minor-league rehab task.

Ohtani did one thing comparable last season, but then, he was returning to the mound for the first time since 2023 elbow surgical procedure.

“Having kind of done that — an inning here, an inning there and then you sort of build up during the season, absolutely,” said Roberts when requested if 2025 might serve as a blueprint. “And I think he’s seen what that buildup can lead to and how it looks. I certainly feel that he’ll buy in.”

Injury updates

Catchers Will Smith (neck) and Dalton Rushing (elbow) each took steps in their hitting progressions. Both took batting apply Friday.

Smith has been out since early June, so he’ll need to progress to live batting apply and seemingly go on a minor-league rehab task before returning from the IL.

“Will, I don’t see the rehab being too long,” Roberts said, “given his kind of simple swing and things like that.”

Rushing landed on the IL on Aug. 3 and started taking swings a week later. But he has yet to start a throwing program.

“Dalton, very encouraged,” Roberts said. “Feels like he can go out there and take an at-bat right now, which is great.”