NEW YORK — They were the 22 most important pitches ever thrown in an empty stadium on a Sunday afternoon.

Shohei Ohtani returned to a big-league mound for the first time since August 2023, even if it was just for a brief live batting practice session against two teammates (Dalton Rushing and Hyeseong Kim) and one coach (J.T. Watkins).

“Just really felt good overall, just looking at the overall execution,” Ohtani said later through his interpreter. “It was a really good first step, and looking forward to the next one.”

Ohtani clearly enjoyed the moment Sunday, a significant step forward in his return from Tommy John revision surgery 20 months ago. After he handled a comebacker from Kim, Ohtani pantomined a throw to first base and joked with Kiké Hernandez (one of the many teammates who gathered to watch the session) that he didn’t need to wear the kind of protective helmet Hernandez wore during his pitching appearance earlier this season. After striking out Watkins, he imitated an umpire making a third strike call.

“I haven’t thrown (to hitters) in a while, so it was nice to be able to feel like I was a pitcher,” Ohtani said. “I just kind of remembered those days when I used to have a lot of good memories as a pitcher.”

Dodgers pitching coach Mark Prior agreed that Ohtani enjoyed the workout and said he can tell Ohtani is “looking forward to pitching” in games again.

“I think today was great because he was able to keep the mood light but able to maintain some real stuff at the end,” Prior said. “I think that’s always important. He didn’t look like he was having stress or be under stress and amp up to try to generate any of his power. He was loose and it was all free and easy so that’s always positive.”

According to Prior, Ohtani threw “mostly fastball, sinkers, cutters, mixed in two sweepers and a split.” His velocity was mostly 94-95 mph on the fastball but he hit 96 and 97 a couple times, Prior said.

“I am aware that I do throw a little harder when there is a hitter in the box,” Ohtani said. “I try to keep it 93-4, but I know I was touching 96 and 7s, which I wanted to not do. But it’s a good sign that I could hit that.”

Kim was the only one to put a ball in play against Ohtani — the comebacker and a line drive laced into the right-field corner that was “ruled” a triple by the coaches on hand, a ruling mildly disputed by Ohtani.

“It was fun,” said Rushing, who batted just once against Ohtani. “You get to face a guy like that — he’s arguably one of the best players overall, ever. What he does on a mound is pretty special as well as in the box. You get to face a guy like that, it’s pretty fun.”

It might not have been as much fun for Watkins, who provided a right-handed bat — Ohtani was reluctant to throw to any of the team’s right-handed hitters, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.

Watkins played two years in Class-A in Boston’s system, where he was a teammate of Mookie Betts. In his second time up against Ohtani, he walked on five pitches.

Ohtani said he expects to continue his weekly schedule of a light throwing session on Wednesday and then throw live BP sessions on Saturdays.

NEW MAN

The Dodgers dipped into the DFA bin to add another pitcher, signing veteran right-hander Chris Stratton. Stratton, 34, was designated for assignment by the Royals earlier this week and released Saturday. Bobby Miller was optioned back to OKC and J.P. Feyereisen was DFAed to clear spots on the active and 40-man rosters for Stratton.