The Los Angeles Dodgers are about to have a four-time MVP-size hole in their lineup.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts announced late Wednesday night that Shohei Ohtani will go on the injured list with right arm discomfort. The 32-year-old has missed six of the last seven games as he has managed lingering soreness in his right biceps and left knee for weeks, but he felt something in his arm after playing Monday.
“There was a swing Monday that he didn’t feel great on, hasn’t totally recovered from Monday,” Roberts said before the game.
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“In talking to Shohei, the doctors, the training staff, it’s the right thing to do. We tried to kick the can as much as we could.”
Roberts insisted that if the postseason began Thursday, Ohtani would be in the lineup, and he expects Ohtani to come off the injured list on the 15th day. The two-way star will not travel with the team on its upcoming East Coast road trip.
“Let’s get his body feeling well and then slowly ramp back up because now we do have time,” Roberts said.
Roberts said Ohtani will take a two- or three-day rest to “calm his arm down.”
If Ohtani indeed returns on the 15th day of his stint on the injured list, he would return on Sept. 22, giving him just six games to reacclimate to live pitching again before the Dodgers begin their quest to win their third straight World Series title.
“It’s certainly not ideal,” Roberts admitted. “The most important thing is him being as healthy as possible, not compromising his swing, and kind of bet on that.”
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In hindsight, Roberts wished the team had put Ohtani on the injured list earlier when it gave him four days off to rest.
“I would love to go back and put him on the IL,” Roberts said. “But I did feel at that moment in time, we all felt that giving him four days was sufficient. He was agreeable.”
“The concern is that after four days (off) and then to take four at-bats and to feel something in an at-bat where we can’t keep going forward, I think that’s disappointing,” Roberts said before the game.
The six-time All-Star was in the midst of another MVP-caliber season. In 130 games, he has a .277 batting average with 30 home runs and 80 RBIs while stealing 11 bases. As a pitcher, he was 8-2 in 14 starts with a sparkling 1.79 ERA in 85 2/3 innings pitched before being shut down because of the injury.
With Ohtani injured, Chicago Cubs superstar center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong now becomes the heavy favorite to win the National League MVP award.
To take Ohtani’s spot on the roster, the Dodgers called up top prospect Josue De Paula straight from Double-A. The 21-year-old will be the team’s designated hitter against the Miami Marlins.
The team has never called up a position player directly from Double-A, but Roberts is confident the organization’s 21-year-old top prospect from the Dominican Republic can handle the pressure.
“I think that our player development group is very confident in his ability to conduct an at-bat. You could argue that the talent in Double-A is similar to Triple-A as far as pure arms and arm talent,” Roberts said. “We’ve seen him in camp for two or three years. He doesn’t run from velocity. He controls the strike zone. This is just a good opportunity for him to kind of cut his teeth in the big leagues.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
