Cody Snavely
LOS ANGELES— While the Los Angeles Dodgers offense powered their way with three home runs yesterday in the Dodgers 5-4 win over the Detroit Tigers, two pitchers will get their work in over the weekend.
It was announced earlier in the week by Dodgers manager Dave Roberts that two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani would throw his first bullpen since February 25th this Saturday at Dodger Stadium. However, according to the ESPN broadcast yesterday, Clayton Kershaw is also slated to face live hitters for the first time since surgery.
Ohtani, 30, took a brief hiatus from his buildup as a starting pitcher this spring to focus on preparing as a hitter due to the Dodgers’ early start to the regular season in Tokyo, Japan, last week.
However, now that the team is back in the States full-time, the Dodgers and Ohtani will begin ramping him up. It has been nearly eighteen months since Ohtani last threw a Major League pitch, and with the Dodgers not putting a set date on his return, it appears that streak will continue to grow.
Roberts and Ohtani each stated that a mid-May return was possible at the start of spring training last month, but with the delay, that date is off the table.
Veteran lefty Clayton Kershaw will also join Ohtani on the mound this weekend at Dodger Stadium. He expects to face hitters for the first time since having offseason toe and knee surgery.
Kershaw re-signed with the Dodgers right before the start of spring training to a 1-year, $7.5 million deal with multiple incentives and escalators, including an additional $1 million for making his 13th, 14th, 15th, and 16th starts of the season.
The deal also contains active roster bonuses; he’ll add an additional $2.5 million for 30 days on the active roster, $1 million for 60 days, and $1 million for 90 days.
Still, the Dodgers rotation is more than satisfactory right now to start the regular season with a five-man rotation headlined by Blake Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Roki Sasaki, Tyler Glasnow, and Dustin May.
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