Following a extended absence from the Dodgers’ beginning rotation because of a lingering damage to his left knee, Shohei Ohtani is lastly nearing the finish of his restoration course of as a pitcher.

And abruptly, as supervisor Dave Roberts said on Sunday, the two-way star’s return to the mound could occur sooner than the workforce had initially indicated.

A day after Ohtani threw 30 pitches in a dwell batting follow session at Dodger Stadium — marking his first time dealing with hitters since he last began a sport as a pitcher on July 3 — Roberts said the right-hander could now be prepared to return to sport motion as a pitcher.

Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers throws dwell batting follow before a sport against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Dodger Stadium on Saturday, August 22, 2026, in Los Angeles, California. (2026 Getty Images) Getty Images

Ohtani is scheduled to throw a bullpen session during the workforce’s upcoming collection in Atlanta this week. After that, the workforce will resolve if he is prepared to rejoin the Dodgers’ rotation or if he will want one more session of dwell BP first; something that had been initially expected during Ohtani’s buildup in latest weeks.

In the former situation, Ohtani could make his pitching return someday next week, Roberts said.

It wasn’t clear if that could occur during the workforce’s collection in Detroit next weekend or once the membership returns to Los Angeles for a homestand that begins against the Cardinals on Sept. 1.

Either means, it represents an encouraging signal for the 32-year-old’s pitching standing, bolstering his possibilities of getting utterly constructed up in time to probably make full-length begins in the postseason.

“I think it’s more of how the ‘pen goes and to be quite honest how Shohei feels,” Roberts said. “If he feels like he can take on a game and throw an inning, great.”

Indeed, whenever Ohtani returns to the Dodgers’ rotation, it will be with an initially restricted workload.

However, Roberts said the membership will seemingly enhance Ohtani’s workload more rapidly than it did last 12 months, when he returned from a second profession Tommy John surgical procedure by constructing up one inning at a time.

Los Angeles Dodgers’ Blake Snell smiles in the dugout during the first inning of a baseball sport against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Saturday, August 22, 2026, in Los Angeles. (Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.) AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill

Last season, Ohtani made two one-inning begins upon returning to the mound in June, then two two-inning begins, then three three-inning begins and so on. He did not full six full frames until his regular-season finale, in his 14th outing of the 12 months.

This time, though, Ohtani is not beginning from scratch, having made 14 begins at the starting of the 12 months (with an 8-2 report and 1.79 ERA) before he was sidelined as a pitcher by his knee damage.

And when requested about the tempo of Ohtani’s forthcoming buildup on Sunday, Roberts confirmed that the workforce will “be a little bit more aggressive” this 12 months.

That could be vital for Ohtani’s postseason pitching function, giving him time to probably construct back up to full-length begins come October.

Previously, it appeared doable that Ohtani might be restricted to only being a glorified opener, succesful of taking down only a handful of innings early in video games. But now, he could give the workforce another authentic beginning possibility, to alongside with a rotation that is also slated to characteristic Tarik Skubal, Blake Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Tyler Glasnow.

In the meantime, a member of the present rotation, left-hander Eric Lauer, is slated to shift into a piggyback function out of the bullpen.

He will be accessible to pitch bulk innings on Tuesday, when Glasnow will make his own return from a back damage. Then, Lauer will observe Ohtani in each of his begins, offering bullpen protection as the two-way star races to make a full comeback from his knee damage.