LOS ANGELES — Shohei Ohtani’s bat is so lethal that he is essentially in scoring position when he steps into the batter’s box, but if the slugger is going to be as productive as he’s been for the Dodgers, he’s going to need some traffic ahead of him on the bases.

Entering Monday night’s game against Colorado, Ohtani, who has hit leadoff since last June, had only seven plate appearances — and three at-bats — with runners in scoring position in 17 games this season, drawing walks in four of those plate appearances.

The team’s seventh, eighth and ninth hitters, spots usually occupied by Max Muncy, Andy Pages, Kiké Hernández and Miguel Rojas, combined to hit .154 (26 for 169) entering Monday, ranking last or second-to-last among 30 big-league teams in each of the spots.

The team’s No. 7 and No. 8 hitters also ranked 28th with on-base percentages of .250 and .210, respectively, while its No. 9 hitters ranked 25th with a .230 OBP.

Ohtani, who hit .310 with a 1.036 OPS, 54 home runs, 38 doubles and 130 RBIs while winning National League MVP honors in 2024, entered Monday with a .273 average, .877 OPS and four homers but only five RBIs.

One possible lineup switch would be to move Mookie Betts back to the leadoff spot, where he hit for most of his Dodgers career before suffering a left wrist fracture last June, and drop Ohtani to the second spot.

But manager Dave Roberts said that he hasn’t considered such a shakeup because he wants to keep the right-handed-hitting Betts between the left-handed-hitting Ohtani and Freddie Freeman, who returned from an ankle injury on Friday, at the top of the order.

“I think we’d be back in that same position of having the lefties back-to-back,” Roberts said. “Also, I just feel that there are guys who are gonna perform better than they have, and Shohei will ultimately get those (RBI) opportunities.”

FAKE NEWS

Roberts was the subject of a flattering weekend Facebook post in which “Dodgers Blue Dynasty,” a page with 4,000 followers, claimed the manager and his wife, Tricia, had stepped in to become guardians for a newborn baby that was abandoned in Los Angeles and pledged “to pay all expenses until the child turns 18.”

One little problem ... it wasn’t true.

“No! No!” Roberts said emphatically, when asked if there was any validity to the post. “I got all these text messages, and I was like, ‘What is going on?’ I told my wife, ‘Babe, are you telling me something I don’t know? Are you hiding something from me?’”

The post appeared authentic, with a link to a story quoting a press release in which Roberts says, “We just knew we had to do something .. to show that love and compassion can change the course of a life.”

It included a picture of Roberts in his road grey uniform with his hands clasped on a dugout rail and two pictures of a man bearing a slight resemblance to Roberts wearing a Dodgers cap and holding a baby in a blanket.

“The picture, dude, that wasn’t even me,” said Roberts, 52. “It looked like me, but that guy was about 20 years younger.”

ALSO

Blake Snell played catch on Monday for the first time since the left-hander went on the 15-day injured list because of shoulder inflammation on April 7, making 20-30 throws at about 90 feet. “The throw looked good, his arm action was clean,” Roberts said. “He said he felt better than expected.” Asked if Snell will need a minor league rehabilitation stint before returning to the rotation, Roberts said, “I think that’s contingent on how long he’s down for. The longer (he’s down), the more possibility. If it’s on the shorter side, then probably not.” ... Teoscar Hernández was held out of Monday night’s lineup because of what Roberts called a “stomach bug. The right fielder was listed as day-to-day.