Dodgers Place Shohei Ohtani on Injured List, Call Up Josue De Paula

The Los Angeles Dodgers are putting Shohei Ohtani on the injured list and promoting their top hitting prospect to take his place.

Manager Dave Roberts told reporters after Wednesday night’s game that Ohtani will go on the 15-day IL. Because he is designated as a two-way player, the minimum is 15 days rather than the 10-day list used for position players.

Ohtani will not travel with the club as it opens a road trip on Friday in Miami.

The immediate replacement is Josue De Paula, who is being summoned from Double-A Tulsa. Multiple outlets reported the move Wednesday night, with ESPN and The Athletic first on the call-up and Roberts later confirming the IL. De Paula, 21, is expected to join the Dodgers on Friday and work primarily as the designated hitter while also seeing time in the outfield.

Ohtani has been trying to play through left knee, right biceps, and neck soreness for weeks. He has not pitched since early July and has already said he will not return to the mound this season.

As a hitter, he has been in and out of the lineup since the start of September. He sat four straight games, returned Monday against Cincinnati and went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts and a walk, then came out of that game feeling something in his right arm on a swing. He has now missed six of the Dodgers’ last seven games.

Roberts said on Tuesday that Ohtani would be back in the lineup for Wednesday’s ballgame. He was not.

After the game, the manager made the IL decision official. Earlier in the week, Roberts had already floated the idea, saying it was not ideal given the 15-day minimum but that whatever was best for Ohtani was best for the team. He also said he wished the club had put Ohtani on the list last week instead of trying a four-day rest.

The timing is beyond messy for a ballclub that is chasing a third straight World Series. The Dodgers have kept up with their winning ways without him in their everyday order, but October is the point of the exercise. A 15-day stay would keep Ohtani out until late September, which could still leave him available for the final homestand against San Diego and the postseason if the arm and knee issues settle.

De Paula is the aggressive part of the roster math. He has not played above Double-A, and the Dodgers have not promoted a position player straight from that level under Andrew Friedman. This season in Tulsa, he has been one of the loudest bats in the minors while MLB Pipeline ranks him among the game’s best prospects.

First baseman Freddie Freeman has also been dealing with a right knee issue, which is another reason Los Angeles is adding a left-handed bat now rather than waiting.

Ohtani remains the most important player on the Dodgers roster when he is healthy. LA has just decided that rest, on paper, is safer than another week of one-game look-ins. De Paula gets the opportunity to make his big-league debut in the meantime.