Dodgers Pregame: Dave Roberts discusses Shohei Ohtani throwing off mound, Yoshinobu Yamamoto rehab

Dave you've got Hunter fua out there I know it's not his major league debut to to that pin ship but how special is it for a young player to be getting his first career start and doing it here at do I'm excited um it's going to be obviously it's a thrill for him um I I like the way that he's caught Gavin a ton knows of their familiarity there um and also I just feel that given will and off day uh Day game after night game makes sense so I'm excited to see what hun can do you had a really strong spring training what did you learn about him then that prepared him for this year I I think the thing with Hunter is he's uh from the south uh it's a slow brain heartbeat um so in the Box he's very calm I don't think This Moment's going to be too big for him um and the guys like him so I think that for me it's somebody I trust he's been in the organization a long time understands what we do as an organization as a pitching staff and like I said I feel good about the battery today we didn't get to talk about it yesterday but show Otani threw off the mountain for the first time just since having surgery how big of a step is that and what how encouraging is that just for him I know we talked about that this like for this year but looking ahead to next year it's a big step for sh I think for for the confidence to be able to get off the mound um to throw some different pitches um I I I the rehab has been great he's put in a lot of hard work the staff has put in a lot of hard work and yeah like you said that I don't think it really impacts this year but it's still continuing to build a foundation of B for 202 is the plan still like that to the point where faing and they kind of shut them down yeah that's when's the next time you're supposed to take them out you know um I I would say a week you know give or take a couple days said that he's not really sure is 2024 is over yet like he's been growing obviously in field like we have how open is that door for I think it should it's slightly open and I think that's a good mindset for Tony um to kind of shoot for something this year and um if all things line up great um and if it doesn't then we can pivot to 25 but I think that his mindset that the door is not completely closed on 24 is a good thing where could he help you was that where could he help you more as a starter or no it would be out of the pen um just looking at the calendar the buildup um he's pitched out of the 10 um so that's where it would be potential if if it happen did you see something in him today that leads you to Le anyway you know whether he could do it or long shot well I I I think that I was talking to Ron Porterfield who's kind of man the rehab um the command has gotten a lot better uh the fast ball he's touch he's 92 to 94 so you'd expect an uptick in velocity he's using all of his pitches um so all that stuff lines up with kind of some optimism did River Ryan um have his surgery yet he did okay he's uh back home in North Carolina visiting his uh son but he'll be back I think next week everything went well everything went great is BR his what's that BR a bullpen um he threw a bullpen yesterday uh he is going to go on on rehab next week and so you know I'm still counting on um another side note is uh we flipped um flarity and a walker so flarity is going to go on Tuesday Walker will go on Wednesday and just a give Walker an exra day if you had copc in the A and Philips in the N you have a lot of guys that have closed games this year but you have a preference would you like to get philps back up to speed that but you know I I I would just I I want Evan to just keep having confidence keep pitching well you know yesterday it was unique in the sense that they've hit for guys at the bottom and I like that they did hit I liked uh copc versus some potential left-handers and there was a clear righty run in the ninth and so it just didn't work out but uh you know if I had to do it over again I would do the same thing but yeah I think in a perfect world um you know I would have Evan Kopi and then um huie who I feel needed a little bit of a reset so we tried to stay away from him he's aailable today um I wanted to give him a few days just kind of not in a game and get him back would be ideal was that a physical thing with him or more no just both I mean I just think that he's thrown more Innings than he's thrown since 2019 so he's been you know started the season with us going wire to wire so you know certain guys have had blows and and uh so now for H to be able to kind of play the slice um that's what I was trying I'm trying to do back to how did he say he felt after throwing yesterday felt good Jo felt good so it's been not surprisingly it's been uh very encouraging this whole process how's Freddy felt trying to through he's not going to he's not going to let on how he's feeling I do know that throwing is is more difficult than hitting and um you know there was even a play Yesterday where he typically would have got the lead Runner second base but I think that he was a little mindful of finger so he took the out at first but um having him in the lineup is still huge you think about where he's going to go to Round Rock uh that's our triple uh Triple A with OKC he's going to be pitching on the road on Wednesday so he'll throw a bullpen on Monday and then Wednesday he'll head out got Chris back in the line up playing in second today what are you hoping to see from him just with this return um I just want to see good at fats uh I I think that uh yeah I just want to see good at bats and I think that before he got hurt uh he was trending he was swinging about well and so I think now I just want to see him have competitive