Shohei Ohtani was not in the Dodgers’ lineup on Friday night, with the team announcing he was away on paternity leave for the birth of his second child.
The two-way star is expected to rejoin the club later during this weekend’s series against the Baltimore Orioles, the Dodgers added in a statement.
Because of that, Ohtani is not being placed on the official paternity list for now, leaving the Dodgers’ roster a man short for Friday’s series opener at Dodger Stadium.
The leave signifies the arrival of Ohtani’s second child, after he and his wife, Mamiko, welcomed a daughter last April.
A new baby will only be the latest significant development in what was already shaping up to be an historic season for the four-time MVP.
Entering Friday, Ohtani ranked second in the National League in OPS as a hitter, trailing only Juan Soto with a .963 mark to go along with 15 home runs, 42 RBIs and a .296 batting average.
On the mound, the right-hander has also been one of the best pitchers in the sport, owning a 7-2 record and 1.47 ERA. While Ohtani isn’t qualified as a pitcher (with only 73 2/3 innings through the team’s first 75 games), only Milwaukee Brewers flame-thrower Jacob Misiorowski has a lower ERA among pitchers with at least 70 innings.
Lately, Ohtani has been playing through some minor physical issues.
In his last several starts, he has battled a blister on his right middle finger. While he has insisted it hasn’t impacted him, it has become visibly bloody on several occasions.
More concerning was the left knee inflammation that Ohtani forced Ohtani out of one game early last week, and sidelined him for another game a day later.
Ohtani said he believed the knee issue was the result of flawed pitching mechanics during a June 10 start in Pittsburgh, the day before his knee began to swell up on him.
But, even with manager Dave Roberts saying this week that the issue wasn’t completely behind the 31-year-old superstar, Ohtani made his next pitching start as scheduled on Wednesday, when he tossed six innings and took an at-bat late in the game after not starting as DH.
Turns out, behind the scenes, he had even more important matters to attend to.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: nypost.com
