CHICAGO — Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani was out of the lineup Friday against the Chicago White Sox a day after exiting the game with discomfort in the back of his left knee.
“Seeing him today, he feels fine-ish,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “But just giving him an extra day is the smart thing to do.”
Ohtani underwent imaging on his left knee, according to Roberts, and it didn’t show anything beyond “normal wear and tear.”
Roberts expressed optimism that Ohtani would return to the lineup this weekend, and he still is penciled in to take the mound Wednesday against the Tampa Bay Rays at Dodger Stadium before the team’s day off Thursday.
Roberts initially was hopeful, after Ohtani left the Dodgers’ 8-6 win against the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park in the seventh inning, that he would not miss additional time. But at this point in the season, the Dodgers are incentivized to play it safe with Ohtani’s recovery.
“If it was another time of the season, he’d be in there,” Roberts said.
The back of Ohtani’s knee, where the swelling is concentrated, still is sore, Roberts said. The origin of that swelling is not entirely clear.
“There is no incident,” Roberts said. “We don’t know. He doesn’t know. I asked him if it was during the pitching, was it when he was hitting, when he was trying to steal a base. And there was no one incident. So I don’t know. I think that’s maybe a good thing.”
Ohtani’s injury history includes surgery on his left knee in 2019. He was born with a rare congenital knee condition called bipartite patella, in which the kneecap doesn’t fuse together. It’s often asymptomatic, but in 2019, Ohtani felt the effects, especially as he started ramping up his post-Tommy John surgery throwing program. He kept playing through it until September.
It’s unclear whether there’s any connection between that issue and the inflammation. Ohtani was not available before the game Friday.
“I think it’s just more the natural evolution of limbs and body parts,” Roberts said. “The running, the swinging, the landing when you’re pitching. So that’s just what happens to your body. So I think that something probably just pissed it off a little bit. But now we can kind of manage the symptoms and feel good about it going forward.”
Tommy Edman nearing return
Dodgers utility player Tommy Edman (right ankle surgery) is nearing the end of his minor-league rehab assignment. If all goes well in the coming days, Roberts expects him to return to the team next week against the Rays. Edman entered Friday with a .670 OPS in 11 games with triple-A Oklahoma City.