KYODO NEWS - Jun 22, 2017 - 19:21 | Sports, All

Out of the lineup since April 8 with a thigh injury, slugging ace pitcher Shohei Otani took Thursday off a day ahead of his potential return to the Nippon Ham Fighters batting order.

Otani, who started the season proscribed from pitching and under orders not to run flat out, injured a muscle in his left thigh while trying to beat out an infield single and has not played since.

With the Fighters struggling to remain in contention for a playoff spot, Hideki Kuriyama appears inclined to activate Otani for Friday's game against the Rakuten Eagles, although doubts about the 23-year-old star's fitness remain.

"Because I believe the manager is thinking about this in order to help us win, what's required of me is to prepare thoroughly so I can fulfill those duties asked of me," said Otani, who last year became the first player in Nippon Professional Baseball to win Best Nine Awards as both a pitcher and a position player.

Otani, who has spent the bulk of the season so far at the Fighters' minor league complex in Kamagaya, Chiba Prefecture, outside of Tokyo, has been taking batting practice with the first team since Tuesday. In BP, he has displayed his normal sharp swings and power, but has done his running not on the Sapporo Dome's artificial surface, but on the grass field adjoining the Fighters' home ballpark.

"I don't think I'll be able to wait to be fully fit, and that includes my (right) ankle," Otani said, referring to the injury suffered last year that kept him out of March's World Baseball Classic.

"I am just going to have to do things I'm able to do."

Although manager Kuriyama has said Otani's activation will be a game-day decision, the need for more offense in his lineup is more acute than ever. On Thursday, Pacific League batting leader Kensuke Kondo was told he was suffering with a lumbar disc herniation.

Kondo, who is batting .407 with an unheard of .587 on-base-percentage, was deactivated on June 11 due to muscle stiffness in his right thigh. Kondo will not be cleared to resume practice until he is no longer in pain.