DH

“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.

He’ll get more chances to collect at-bats over the weekend, planning to DH again on Saturday and potentially return to first base on Sunday.

Once the regular season begins, they will try to find more simulated environments to help him build up, rather than sending him on a standard minor league rehab assignment that would force him to miss MLB games as a DH.

Roberts said he might look to give Ohtani more days off as a DH as well, making it unlikely Ohtani will match his total of 159 games played last year.

It is unclear whether Howard wants O’Neal to join him as guests on “The Gauds Show” — something host Ray Daniels was pushing for during this week’s episode — or on his own podcast, “Above The Rim with DH 12.”