LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles Dodgers two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani will have his left knee drained on Sunday (Monday in Manila) to relieve continued irritation, and the procedure will force him to miss next week’s All-Star Game in Philadelphia.
Ohtani will have fluid removed from his left knee following a three-game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks in which he will continue to start at designated hitter. Ohtani had been scheduled to pitch on Friday night, but the Dodgers instead decided to make it a bullpen game to avoid further aggravating the ongoing discomfort in his left knee.
Ohtani has been dealing with the ailment for at least a month. The right-hander had an outing cut short against the Pittsburgh Pirates on June 11 because of inflammation in the knee.
“He’s been managing this quite well,” manager Dave Roberts said before Friday’s game. “If there’s a chance that we could kind of be proactive and get it drained and do whatever we need to do to kind of try to manage it, along with the rest for the All-Star break, we were going to do that.”
The four-time MVP has once again been one of the best players in the big leagues this season, and he stands alone as a two-way player.
Ohtani is batting .290 with 20 homers and 56 RBIs and is 8-2 on the mound with a 1.79 ERA and 95 strikeouts in 85 2/3 innings. However, his effectiveness on the mound has diminished somewhat in Ohtani’s past four starts. He allowed 12 earned runs in 24 2/3 innings in a span corresponding with the left knee irritation. Ohtani had given up five runs in his first 10 starts.
