The Los Angeles Dodgers appear to have averted a crisis with Shohei Ohtani.
Ohtani provided a real scare during Wednesday’s start against the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati, Ohio. The reigning NL MVP was pulled from the game as a pitcher in the fourth inning after firing six consecutive balls (including two wild pitches). You can see the video of the concerning sequence from Ohtani here.
But about an hour after Ohtani’s exit, the Dodgers shared a positive update. They revealed that Ohtani had simply left the game as a pitcher due to “cramps,” per Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic.
Notably, Ohtani remained in the game as a hitter after exiting as a pitcher. That would appear to be further evidence that he was only dealing with a minor issue.
Ohtani, who did not pitch at all for the Dodgers last season, was making just his seventh total start of the year on Wednesday. He was initially throwing only one inning per start but had gradually been ramping up and made it into the fourth inning on Wednesday (sitting at 51 pitches at the time that he was pulled).
The obvious goal for the Dodgers is to have Ohtani fully healthy as a pitcher in time for the 2025 MLB postseason. As such, it is probably the absolute best-case scenario for them that Ohtani was only dealing with cramping against the Reds (though the Dodgers do have countless other injuries to pitchers that they are still dealing with right now).
