DH

Tuesday was only the seventh pitching start of the season for Ohtani, who was limited to DH duties for the first two and a half months of the season while completing his recovery from a second career Tommy John surgery he had near the end of the 2023 campaign.

Then, in meetings with team officials, he expressed some concern with continuing to build up in more simulated sessions, relaying the toll it took on his body to pitch several innings in an afternoon before ramping up to DH later the same night.

“I played as just a DH last year,” he said, “but to do both at the same time is my usual style.”

Leave Shohei Ohtani alone in his DH status.

“There’s a little bit of a shift towards making sure he’s dialed in, ready to go from a DH standpoint,” Prior said last week.