Shohei Ohtani is finally heating up. Which Dodgers star hitter will be next?

Welcome to The California Post’s weekly Dodgers recap, where baseball writers Dylan Hernández and Jack Harris review the week that was, hand out player superlatives and take stock of the state of the season.

QUESTION OF THE WEEK

Which Dodgers star will break out first?

In this space last week, we wondered when Shohei Ohtani would get going.

Then, he went 7-for-16 with a home run, two doubles and a .609 on-base-percentage in his past six games.

So, now that he’s heating up (or, at least, looking closer to normal form), which big name will rebound for the Dodgers next?

As of Thursday, the team had five veteran sluggers with an OPS between .700 and .750: Freddie Freeman, Will Smith, Kyle Tucker, Teoscar Hernández and Mookie Betts* (he has played just eight games while on the IL). Not disastrous starts by any means. But certainly below where each of them would have been expecting.

Freeman has the best contact metrics of that group, ranking in the top quarter of MLB hitters in expected batting average, average exit velocity, barrel percentage and hard-hit rate. But he also looks the coldest now, with just three hits in his last 25 at-bats.

Smith remains one of the most disciplined hitters in the league, ranking top 20 in both chase and whiff rate. But his slugging percentage is just .382, almost 100 points below his career average.

Hernández’s struggles have manifested from a recurring problem with strikeouts, trailing only Ohtani for most on the team with 31.

And then there’s Tucker, who has flashed some signs of resurgence –– he has hits in six of seven games, including four doubles and his first Dodgers walk-off –– but hasn’t truly hit his stride at either the plate (where he is hitting only .241 with a .702 OPS) or in the outfield (where he has negative marks in both defensive runs saved and outs above average).

PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Shohei Ohtani (7-for-16, HR, 2 RBI this week; .273 average, .897 OPS this season)

Ohtani considers himself a slow starter offensively.

But, even after a strong final week, he ended April with his worst opening month statistics in four years.

March/April 2022: .247 average, 4 HR, 11 RBI, .722 OPS

March/April 2023: .294 average, 7 HR, 18 RBI, .897 OPS

March/April 2024: .336 average, 7 HR, 19 RBI, 1.017 OPS

March/April 2025: .287 average, 7 HR, 10 RBI, .949 OPS

March/April 2026: .273 average, 6 HR, 13 RBI, .897 OPS

Even this past week, Ohtani didn’t look all the way back (he still has only one home run in his last 15 games). But, he started hitting the ball harder than he had been, cutting down on chases and strikeouts, and producing at a higher level than much the rest of his slumping teammates.

He credited his recent improvements with a change he made to his stance.

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PITCHER OF THE WEEK

Justin Wrobleski (1 start, 6 innings, 0 runs; 4-0, 1.50 ERA for the season)

Who would have guessed that of the three relatively inexperienced starters in the Dodgers’ rotation, the most dependable would be the one who started the year in the bullpen? A 25-year-old left-hander, Wrobleski has been the revelation of the season up to this point. Since moving into the rotation, he’s arguably been the Dodgers’ best pitcher, giving up only two runs in 26 innings over four starts.

“Obviously, you always want those opportunities,” Wrobleski said.

In his most recent win, Wrobleski blanked the Cubs over six innings. But there were some rocky moments early. The first two batters reached base. The bases were loaded with one out in the second inning. Somehow, the crafty lefty kept any of the runners from scoring. 

Asked if the game was a growth moment, Wrobleski replied, “I would say so. I think it’s just making pitches when you need them, and today I made pitches when I needed to make them.”

One key: He finished the game with six strikeouts.

In his previous three starts, he struck out just seven batters in 20 innings.

PROSPECT OF THE WEEK

Josue De Paula (.325 average, 2 home runs, 16 RBIs, .915 OPS in Double-A Tulsa this season)

The Dodgers’ No. 1 prospect is still working to answer questions about his outfield defense. But so far at the plate, he has been one of the most productive hitters in the team’s system.

Not only is he hitting well over .300, something he has never done above rookie-level ball, but he has 20 walks against only 13 strikeouts, having reached base safely in 19 of 22 games.

The 6-foot-3 slugger is still waiting for his power to come all the way around, with just four doubles and two home runs. But he snapped an 11-game extra-base-hit drought with a homer earlier this week –– flashing the natural power the Dodgers believe will continue emerging in his swing.

FUTURE DODGER OF THE WEEK

(Where we identify a potential Dodgers’ future acquisition –– sometimes far-fetched, sometimes not)

Paul Skenes, Pirates (ETA: 2030)

Honestly, it’s surprising even to us that it took so long for Skenes to receive this designation. He fits the bill. He’s one of the biggest stars in the sport. He’s a Southern California native who played at El Toro High. His celebrity girlfriend, Livvy Dunne, has been cast in the “Baywatch” reboot, which will primarily be filmed at Venice Beach.

The Pirates are one of the thriftiest and worst-run franchises in baseball, and the widespread assumption is that Skenes won’t finish his career with them. Speculation of that intensified when the Pirates recently signed rookie Konnor Griffin to a nine-year contract extension. “He’s gonna be the face of the Pirates for a long time,” Skenes said. What about Skenes? Does he plan on being there?

Skenes is under club control through the 2029 season. At that point, Ohtani will be 35 years old, Yoshinobu Yamamoto will be able to exercise an escape clause in his deal, and Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow could be out of contract. If the next collective bargaining agreement allows them to, the Dodgers could be backing up the Brink’s truck for Skenes.

Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: nypost.com