{"id":758013,"date":"2026-07-21T23:54:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T23:54:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/758013\/"},"modified":"2026-07-21T23:54:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T23:54:15","slug":"dodgers-have-paused-shohei-ohtanis-pitching-but-its-his-hitting-they-have-to-protect-orange-county-register","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/758013\/","title":{"rendered":"Dodgers have paused Shohei Ohtani\u2019s pitching \u2013 but it\u2019s his hitting they have to protect \u2013 Orange County Register"},"content":{"rendered":"

PHILADELPHIA \u2014\u00a0The Dodgers have paused Shohei Ohtani\u2019s work as a pitcher<\/a> but it\u2019s really his hitting they are trying to protect.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s heavily weighted,\u201d Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of the influence of Ohtani\u2019s value as a hitter on the decisions made about his pitching. \u201cThat\u2019s why we feel that, whether it\u2019s one week, two weeks, three weeks \u2013 pushing him back \u2013 as long as he\u2019s taking his five at-bats, given our lineup and what he brings to our offense every day, it\u2019s a big deal. That\u2019s certainly weighted, yeah.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ohtani\u2019s value to the Dodgers is greater as a hitter than a pitcher, Roberts acknowledged.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, I think so,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cCertainly if you look at our roster and the depth that we have with the pitching \u2013 yeah I would say that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The four-time league MVP has said the knee pain that led to him receiving an injection, skipping the All-Star Game and now dropping out of the starting rotation indefinitely affects him pitching but not hitting. Nonetheless, he went into Tuesday\u2019s game against the Philadelphia Phillies with just eight hits in his previous 36 at-bats (.222).<\/p>\n

\u201cI get the question. I don\u2019t think that\u2019s the case,\u201d Roberts said when asked if he thought the knee might actually be affecting Ohtani\u2019s swing. \u201cI would argue that if it was the right knee, potentially, because that\u2019s kind of \u2013 you\u2019re turning on that knee, hitting off the front side. But with the left knee, I still see the intent there.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think that the (Cristopher) S\u00e1nchez at-bats are certainly a good representation of him (0 for 4 with two strikeouts in Monday\u2019s loss<\/a>). And really, not too long ago, we were talking about how well he was swinging the bat. So he\u2019s had a couple rough ones, and he\u2019s been dealing with this knee \u2026 I don\u2019t think that\u2019s the cause. I don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roberts said Ohtani is expected to throw a bullpen session this weekend to see how his knee feels in the pitching motion. But there is still no target date for him to make his next pitching start.<\/p>\n

FIRST HIT<\/p>\n

Catcher Eliezer Alfonzo Jr. was able to get the ball from his first major-league hit on Sunday at Yankee Stadium. And he has big plans for it.<\/p>\n

The ball will go on display in his home alongside the lineup card from his first major-league start (July 5 against the San Diego Padres<\/a>) and a catcher\u2019s glove given to him and signed by longtime St. Louis Cardinals star Yadier Molina (complete with the Gold Glove logo that goes to winners of that award). Molina was Alfonzo\u2019s manager in winter ball and a hero (along with Alfonzo\u2019s father, another former major-league catcher).<\/p>\n

Alfonzo\u2019s first hit was another bright spot in difficult times for Alfonzo, whose sister and stepmother are among the 5,000-plus who died in the earthquakes that hit Venezuela last month<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first thing I said, as soon as I saw the ball going through, \u2018Thanks, God, for this,\u2019\u201d Alfonzo said. \u201cReally special moment doing it at Yankee Stadium because this is \u2026 my grandmother\u2019s favorite team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alfonzo has gained Roberts\u2019 trust behind the plate even if his offense has been limited.<\/p>\n

\u201cI played with his father, and his father was a good baseball guy,\u201d said Roberts, who played with Alfonzo Sr. in San Francisco in 2008. \u201cHe was raised to be a catcher. So I think he just has feel. There\u2019s a confidence that he has behind the plate, in himself.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, the fingers (pitch-calling), the feel for the game, the relationship with the pitchers, I really wasn\u2019t too concerned about it. Even in spring training, a brief little snippet, sample, he assimilated really well for a guy that\u2019s never been in camp, so I felt good about that.\u201d<\/p>\n

ROSTER MOVE<\/p>\n

The Dodgers swapped out bullpen arms, adding left-hander Charlie Barnes and sending right-hander Landon Knack back to Triple-A Oklahoma City. Knack pitched the last two innings of Monday\u2019s loss.<\/p>\n

Barnes was designated for assignment after pitching seven innings against the A\u2019s earlier this month and wound up re-signing with the Dodgers on a minor-league contract. In order to add him back to the 40-man roster, they moved catcher Will Smith to the 60-day injured list.<\/p>\n

Smith has been out since June 5 with an inflamed disc in his neck<\/a> and is currently shut down from baseball activity after receiving a second injection to treat the injury.<\/p>\n

UP NEXT<\/p>\n

Dodgers (LHP Eric Lauer, 4-5, 4.81 ERA) at Phillies (RHP Aaron Nola,3-7, 5.68 ERA), Wednesday, 3:40 p.m. PT, SportsNet LA, 570 AM<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHILADELPHIA \u2014\u00a0The Dodgers have paused Shohei Ohtani\u2019s work as a pitcher but it\u2019s really his hitting they are…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":758014,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2406],"tags":[5,39,1165,4332,4333,774,57,3224,4331,4,468,185],"class_list":["post-758013","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles-dodgers","tag-baseball","tag-dodgers","tag-la","tag-la-dodgers","tag-ladodgers","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-dodgers","tag-losangeles","tag-losangelesdodgers","tag-mlb","tag-shohei-ohtani","tag-sports"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116960668177738731","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/758013","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=758013"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/758013\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/758014"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=758013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=758013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=758013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}