Shohei Ohtani's First Live Pitching Session Reaches a Fastball Speed of 98 mph

Los Angeles Dodgers' two-way star Shohei Ohtani took the mound for his first live pitching practice today, throwing 18 pitches against four batters. He allowed one hit, struck out two, and reached a top speed of 98 mph (approximately 158 km/h), moving closer to his goal of a full pitching and hitting dual role season with the Dodgers.

Although Michael Siani managed to get a base hit through the center early on, Ohtani responded by inducing a weak grounder to shortstop from Teoscar Hernández with a splitter. He then struck out Andy Pages and Hyeseong Kim consecutively, successfully completing this pitching session.

Catcher Dalton Rushing commented that Ohtani’s pitching was very powerful. It seemed like he was still finding his rhythm against the first two batters, but the pitches to the last two batters showed promising signs, with good control over all pitch types and the ability to make hitters swing and miss. “I think he’s aiming for the Cy Young Award this year, and he definitely has a chance.”

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said he was pleased to see Ohtani facing live batters but emphasized that he was never worried about Ohtani’s readiness. His progress is clearly ahead of last year’s recovery phase. However, participation in the upcoming World Baseball Classic might affect his pitching schedule, as he won’t pitch in actual games while other pitchers are accumulating innings. Roberts also revealed it’s unlikely Ohtani will pitch in spring training games before returning to Japan for the tournament.