It seems Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani won’t be competing within the House Run Derby in any case. Ohtani had beforehand expressed curiosity in competing within the derby this yr, and Dodgers supervisor Dave Roberts stated the choice can be left as much as Ohtani. Nonetheless, he gained’t compete within the occasion as he’s nonetheless in the course of his rehab and pitching development after present process a torn UCL final yr.
“There’s been some conversations occurring,” Ohtani stated by way of interpreter Will Ireton. “I’m in the course of my (elbow) rehab development, so it’s not going to appear to be I’ll be collaborating.”
This choice comes as Ohtani and the Dodgers need to restrict any likelihood or danger of Ohtani sustaining an harm or delaying his progress in the course of the derby.
“He’s going by way of rehab, and his job, he signed as much as play for the Dodgers and to maintain himself one of the simplest ways he can,” Roberts stated. “And so I believe in some other regular state of affairs, the place he wasn’t rehabbing, I believe he would like to take part. However you then layer on one thing that’s so distinctive to anybody, the quantity of swings, the depth of it, it will simply be an actual disappointment for not solely Shohei, the Dodgers, and likewise the followers, if one thing have been to occur throughout one thing like that.”
In fact, an enormous enchantment of Ohtani competing within the derby can be to attract extra eyes to the game as he is without doubt one of the hottest figures in sports activities throughout the globe — and Roberts understands that.
“No participant strikes the needle in baseball greater than Shohei, so far as on a worldwide scale,” Roberts stated. “In order that duty, he feels extra weight, is actual … The rationale he got here to the Dodgers was to win a championship, and it’s not solely his duty to hold Main League Baseball.”
Ohtani has competed within the House Run Derby simply as soon as in his MLB profession again in 2021, however he was eradicated within the first spherical. He ought to have the chance to compete in it once more when totally wholesome.
The House Run Derby will happen on July 15.
Photograph Credit score: Kiyoshi Mio-USA TODAY Sports activities
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