Shohei Ohtani tops 100 mph in one-inning return to mound for Dodgers

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LOS ANGELES — Shohei Ohtani’s artistry is his ability to make the unthinkable seem normal. It should not be rational for the National League leader in home runs to toe the rubber and throw 100.2 mph, a speed he reached with his fastball on Monday night. His two-way play is the type of schoolyard dominance that leads others to speak of him with childlike reverence.

What he is doing feels mind-boggling because it tests what conventional wisdom is as to what is possible on a major league baseball field.

The Los Angeles Dodgers could only watch from afar as Ohtani reached the peak of his two-way prowess in a stadium in the shadow of Disneyland. They’ve dreamed for years that the magic would come in their uniform. Monday night, for one inning and 28 pitches against the San Diego Padres, they finally got to witness it.

At least, what it could be.

Almost 21 months have passed since Ohtani’s right elbow was operated on a second time, and the path to getting to this point felt almost as long before hitting warp speed over the last 22 days. It’s only been that long since Ohtani faced hitters for the first time since surgery. The decision to shift Ohtani’s rehabilitation into big-league games feels unprecedented and was finalized within the last 24 to 48 hours, according to Dodgers general manager Brandon Gomes.

“There is no playbook for this,” Gomes said.

So Ohtani toed the rubber at 7:10 p.m. for his first pitching appearance in a Dodgers uniform. At 7:22 p.m., he completed his first inning, having allowed a pair of softly hit singles and a run on a Manny Machado sacrifice fly. He flashed eye-popping stuff, even if he looked like someone pitching in a big league game for the first time in nearly two years.

By 7:24 p.m., the reigning National League MVP was stepping into the batter’s box to lead off against Padres right-hander Dylan Cease and struck out on seven pitches.

He didn’t even have time to stop in the dugout; his gear was laid out for him on the dirt in front of it. Time is at a premium when you’re trying to do it all.

“To watch this guy start and then take an at-bat, this is bananas,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.

Ohtani’s one inning was a certifiable event. The Dodger Stadium crowd roared when Ohtani emerged at 6:30 p.m. and began tossing with bullpen catcher Francisco Herrera. He sat on concrete at the back of the bullpen before an onlooking crowd until he rose and started throwing at 6:44 p.m. All had their phones out to capture the moment.

As Ohtani warmed, so too did Ben Casparius, who was scheduled to take on the bulk of the innings on the mound Monday night. He slapped fives upon entering the dugout at 7:02 p.m., with a beaming smile on his face before retreating down the clubhouse tunnel. At 7:05 p.m., public address announcer Todd Leitz introduced Ohtani for a second time of the night — and for the first time as a Dodger pitcher.

The place erupted.

Ohtani’s return to the mound was an event several months in the making. (AP Photo / Kyusung Gong)

Ohtani skipped over the chalk foul lines, took the baseball and nodded to home-plate umpire Tripp Gibson as Michael Bublé blared through the sound system at 7:08 p.m.

His first pitch registered at 97.6 mph to Fernando Tatis Jr., who’d end the at-bat by blooping a 99.1 mph fastball into center field. Luis Arraez followed with a single of his own after Tatis Jr. advanced on a wild pitch. Ohtani appeared to begin crawling his way out of trouble when he enticed Machado to chase outside the strike zone, but first-base umpire Ryan Blakney ruled that Machado didn’t swing, leaving Ohtani stewing. Machado lofted another sweeper just deep enough to center to score the lone run against Ohtani before the right-hander induced a pair of groundouts to end the inning.

The final stat line: one inning, two hits, one run, no strikeouts. He did not return immediately as the fully-formed pitcher he was when he last pitched in a game in August 2023. He still wore an Angels uniform then. But the signs were encouraging enough. His fastball sat around 99 mph and touched 100 more than once. He induced three swings and misses.

He looked like someone who had declared himself fit for a big league game and didn’t look out of place. The last time he came back from surgery, in 2020, he faced six hitters and didn’t retire a single one.

What became abundantly clear as Ohtani’s return timeline shifted from after the All-Star break to before it, to within a week, to Monday, was that the three-time MVP felt he was ready. He asserted as such on Saturday night, when he called the quality of his stuff “game-ready.” He voiced to Dodgers officials how taxing it was to heat up his body to throw a simulated inning — or three, as he did in his final rehab game — then cool off just to heat up again to lead off that night.

The Dodgers already get the roster benefit of Ohtani not counting towards their 13-pitcher limit, meaning they would not have to burn an arm or boot a pitcher off the roster just for Ohtani to throw one inning like he did on Monday night.

“These are just free innings, right?” Gomes said. “It doesn’t come at the cost of anything.”

So the Dodgers will try to build up Ohtani in big league games. Far from the norm for a pitcher coming off major surgery, let alone a second one. Then again, little is normal when it comes to Ohtani.

“I think it’s more of like, ‘Well, I don’t think there’s anything else to do. I’m ready to go. What else do I need to do to get back on a major-league mound?’” Roberts said. “You try to treat him like a normal pitcher and a normal ramp-up or build-up. But if it’s going to be an inning or two, it’s ‘Well, I’ve already done that. Can I pitch now?’ You gotta hear the player and trust the player.”

The Dodgers have invested $700 million of trust in Ohtani, not just for the lucrative business opportunities that have changed the math for the franchise or for his ability to do the unthinkable even when he’s just hitting. As singular as it was for Ohtani to become the first player ever to slug 50 home runs and steal 50 bases in the same season, the magic of Ohtani comes from his ability to both pitch and hit at an elite level.

They’ve seen glimpses of that unique ability over the 17 months since Ohtani informed the Dodgers he’d be signing with them. A year ago, he joined the 40-40 club with a walk-off grand slam — and came out the next afternoon and threw his first bullpen session since surgery. Gomes recalled watching Ohtani in Arizona last month as the designated hitter slugged a go-ahead three-run home run in the ninth inning to cap off a frenetic comeback, a Herculean swing that he makes look so easy.

The next afternoon, Gomes sat in and watched Ohtani throw a rigorous bullpen session to simulate multiple innings.

Gomes, who appeared in 173 games in the big leagues as a reliever with the Tampa Bay Rays and never recorded a single plate appearance, could not help but marvel at what he was seeing.

“I’m like, ‘This is impossible, right?’” Gomes said. “And it’s electric stuff and he’s talking about the movement of his pitches. It’s exciting from a baseball perspective, and we’re all fans as well.”

The Dodgers are not following a blueprint because Ohtani’s mere existence renders even the best-laid plans incomplete. Virtually everything he does puts him into rare territory. Monday, he became the third National League player ever — and first since Alvin Dark in 1953 — to start a game on the mound and lead off at the plate in the same game.

“I mean, he’s the best player on the planet,” Roberts said. “I think everyone can kind of admire that. We did this in high school, two-way players. Or college, maybe, certain people. But to do it at this level, and to be so talented, I think we all marvel at it.”

(Top photo: Harry How / Getty Images)

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