​The Los Angeles Dodgers announced that Shohei Ohtani will not start Friday’s game against the Arizona Diamondbacks. In addition, he will skip this year’s All-Star Game in Philadelphia to focus on addressing his lingering left knee issues. Ohtani will continue serving as the Dodgers’ designated hitter during the final series of the first half, but he will undergo a series of interventions during the All-Star break to manage the knee.
The trouble with Ohtani’s left knee appears to have begun at the start of last month, following his start against the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park on June 10. The very next day, June 11, Ohtani was pinch-hit for in the top of the seventh inning by Santiago Espinal, and the Dodgers later announced that Ohtani had left the game with left knee inflammation. He missed the following game on the road trip before returning to the lineup.
Manager Dave Roberts initially downplayed the seriousness of the knee issue, describing it as a precautionary move. “We tried to be smart about it and get him out of the game,” Roberts told the media via SportsNetLA. “He told the trainer that he felt a little something behind his knee, and I just didn’t see any sense in risking it.” Nevertheless, the Dodgers have remained cautious and are pushing Ohtani’s start date back again to allow for extended rest.
The plan for Ohtani is to undergo “some interventions on his knee to put him in the best position for the second half of the season.” This approach inevitably reduces his chances of playing in the All-Star Game and will result in his missing the trip to Philadelphia altogether.
This is not the first time knee issues have affected Ohtani. In 2019, he underwent surgery to repair a bipartite patella in his left knee—which effectively means he was born with two patellas rather than one—though that condition had not been an issue during his time with the Los Angeles Angels up to that point. When asked whether the two situations were related, Roberts said they were separate scenarios.
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