Dodgers give Shohei Ohtani a DH break as his offensive slump deepens
Shohei Ohtani is resting from hitting as he struggles offensively.

Max Meyer is set to make his first start in Minnesota against the Twins, showcasing his best performance this season with a 2.79 ERA. After overcoming challenges, the former third overall pick is finally thriving in his career.
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A day before Max Meyer was set to make his first start in his home state â and first start against his hometown team â the starter didnât let out much excitement in a session with the media, calling it âjust another day.â
So let Marlins infielder, Connor Norby, a fellow Minnesota native, do it for him.
âObviously he still lives here. I know how much this place means to him,â Norby said. âHe was excited to come back. He doesnât ever shut up about this place.â
Meyerâs path to get to this point in his career hasnât been linear, but now heâs finally flashing the talent that made him the third overall pick of the 2020 draft, matching hall of famer Paul Molitor, whom he chatted with on Tuesday, as the two highest-drafted players out of the University of Minnesota.
At 27, Meyer is healthy, thriving and set to face the Twins for the first time on Wednesday. He enters the matchup with 2.79 earned-run average this season through eight starts. Earlier this month, he threw seven scoreless innings of one-hit ball against the Philadelphia Phillies, a dominant effort for the once-top prospect.
âWe do this little TikTok trend at the beginning of the year of your biggest predictions for the year, and I think half the team, including myself, said that if heâs healthy, heâs an all-star,â Norby said. âHeâs a bulldog on the mound. He fills up the strike zone. Heâs got his sweeper, heâs got his fastball. Heâs got his slider. He does whatever he wants whenever he wants to. Yeah, heâs big-time for us.â
The talent was undeniable, but it has taken him a bit to reach this point.
Meyer, whom the Twins selected in the draft in 34th round in 2017, ascended relatively quickly to the big leagues. But injury after injury cut into the early days of his major league career.
After his first two major league starts in 2022, he was diagnosed with a tear in his ulnar collateral ligament, necessitating Tommy John surgery. Rehab from that wiped out all of 2023.
His 2024 season was spent between the majors and minors and finished with a shoulder injury. And last season, he was placed on the injured list in early June and later underwent season-ending surgery on his hip.
All those injuries â he was on the IL when the Twins and Marlins faced off in each of the past three seasons â made Wednesday a homecoming years in the making.
Max Meyer has an earned run average of 2.79 this season through eight starts.
Max Meyer was drafted third overall in the 2020 MLB Draft.
Max Meyer chatted with Hall of Famer Paul Molitor before his start against the Twins.
In his last game, Max Meyer threw seven scoreless innings, allowing only one hit against the Philadelphia Phillies.
Shohei Ohtani is resting from hitting as he struggles offensively.
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âIâm sure there will be a lot of people out here. I know my parents got tickets for some people. But yeah, I donât really go on my phone,â Meyer said. âIâm guessing a lot of people texted me, but I havenât responded to maybe anyone. Theyâll probably be at the game, though, so thatâll be fun.â
Taj Bradley (pectoral inflammation) played catch on Tuesday, Twins manager Derek Shelton said. âI think from there, we will make sure that we appropriately put the program together,â Shelton said. Reliever Cole Sands (forearm strain) also played catch on Tuesday, while Mick Abel (triceps) was doing plyo ball work.