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<\/p>\nGLENDALE, Ariz. \u2013 With just over a week left in spring training, the Dodgers received encouraging signs across several fronts \u2014 from pitching progress to a growing family moment \u2014 as the club inches closer to Opening Day.<\/p>\n
Snell takes first big step in buildup<\/p>\n
The most notable development at camp came from left-hander Blake Snell, who threw his first bullpen session with a catcher down on Thursday \u2014 a small but important milestone in his ramp-up process.<\/p>\n
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Dave Roberts said beforehand that Snell is essentially starting the beginning stages of a typical spring progression, meaning he\u2019s still several weeks away from being fully built up.<\/p>\n
Snell threw 15 pitches in the session, all fastballs in the 87\u201389 mph range. The velocity was intentional as he eases back into mound work.<\/p>\n
\u201cVery excited to throw off the mound again,\u201d Snell said. \u201cBeen looking forward to this for a while.\u201d<\/p>\n
Just days earlier, Snell had been throwing to a catcher who was standing up rather than in a full receiving position \u2014 a lighter stage of bullpen work often used early in rehab or buildup. This time, with the catcher down, the outing represented a more normal bullpen setting.<\/p>\n
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\u201cIt felt effortless and easy,\u201d Snell said afterward.<\/p>\n
For the Dodgers, the key now is simply progression. Snell said he \u201cfeels good\u201d physically and that the focus moving forward is building his pitch count and intensity.<\/p>\n
Ohtani continuing pitching ramp-up with Japan<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Shohei Ohtani continues progressing while away from Dodgers camp with Japan in the World Baseball Classic.<\/p>\n
Although Ohtani is serving strictly as a hitter for Japan during the tournament, he completed a significant pitching session during a team workout earlier this week. The right-hander threw the equivalent of four innings in live batting practice \u2014 59 pitches to 18 hitters. He struck out seven batters. Ohtani described his pitching preparation as being in a good place.<\/p>\n
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\u201cEverything is going well,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The team continues to expect him to be ready for the regular season.<\/p>\n
Yamamoto staying with Samurai Japan<\/p>\n
Another Dodgers pitcher will remain in the WBC a little longer than initially anticipated. Right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto will stay with Japan for the remainder of the World Baseball Classic tournament.<\/p>\n
Early reports suggested Yamamoto would return to Arizona after his start on Saturday, but that plan has since been corrected. Instead, the Dodgers\u2019 ace will remain with Samurai Japan until the tournament concludes.<\/p>\n
Betts away from camp for family milestone<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts (50) hits against the Colorado Rockies in the third inning at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick.<\/p>\n
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Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts (50) hits against the Colorado Rockies in the third inning at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick.<\/p>\n
On the position-player side, Mookie Betts has stepped away from camp for a much happier reason. Betts left Dodgers camp to be with his wife as the couple anticipates the birth of their third child.<\/p>\n
Before departing, Betts had appeared in five games this spring, going 5-for-14 at the plate. Roberts said the team expects Betts to return to camp and rejoin the lineup on Saturday.<\/p>\n
The big picture<\/p>\n
With Opening Day approaching, the Dodgers are seeing positive signs on multiple fronts:<\/p>\n
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Snell has begun his mound progression.<\/p>\n
Ohtani\u2019s pitching buildup continues without setbacks.<\/p>\n
Yamamoto is getting high-intensity work in international competition.<\/p>\n
Betts is expected back shortly after welcoming a new addition to his family.<\/p>\n
For a team with championship expectations, the next week will be about maintaining momentum \u2014 and keeping everyone healthy \u2014 as the regular season approaches.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"GLENDALE, Ariz. \u2013 With just over a week left in spring training, the Dodgers received encouraging signs across…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":623078,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2406],"tags":[146,5,114,52,1560,39,1165,4332,4333,774,57,3224,4331,4,1526,1258,110,279],"class_list":["post-623077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles-dodgers","tag-arizona","tag-baseball","tag-blake-snell","tag-colorado-rockies","tag-dave-roberts","tag-dodgers","tag-la","tag-la-dodgers","tag-ladodgers","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-dodgers","tag-losangeles","tag-losangelesdodgers","tag-mlb","tag-mookie-betts","tag-ohtani","tag-roki-sasaki","tag-yamamoto"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116226208227396596","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623077","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=623077"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623077\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/623078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=623077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=623077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=623077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}