The Dodgers are placing Shohei Ohtani on the 15-day injured list, manager Dave Roberts told reporters after Wednesday night's 14-1 win over the Cincinnati Reds. Ohtani has missed six of the past seven games with discomfort in his right arm.
As a two-way player, Ohtani must go on the 15-day injured list, which, backdated to his last appearance on Monday, means the soonest he can return is Sept. 23. That would give him a maximum of five regular-season games to get ready for the playoffs.
The Dodgers are calling up Josue De Paula, one of baseball's best outfield prospects, from Double-A to temporarily take Ohtani's place at designated hitter. De Paula, 21, will join the team Friday for the start of a seven-game road trip through Miami and Cincinnati and is expected to get most of the playing time vacated by Ohtani over the next 11 games.
De Paula was rated the 10th-best prospect in ESPN's updated rankings last month and is slashing .303/.401/.547 with 27 home runs and 31 stolen bases in 124 games at Double-A. He was signed out of the Dominican Republic for slightly less than $400,000 in 2022, and the Dodgers refused to include him in trade talks for Tarik Skubal this summer.
Roberts called placing Ohtani on the IL "the right thing to do," saying, "We tried to kick the can as much as we could." He said he is very confident Ohtani will be in a good place when he returns, adding that Ohtani would be in the lineup for a postseason game tomorrow but that the two weeks off should put him in an adequate spot to finish the season and beyond, though probably not 100%.
Ohtani has not pitched since July 3 because of continuing soreness in his left knee, which flared again when he tried to throw his last bullpen session on Aug. 28, and he acknowledged Monday he will most likely not pitch again this season. Offensively, he has a .902 OPS with 30 home runs and 11 stolen bases this season but has just seven hits and 22 strikeouts over his last 54 at-bats.
