Shohei Ohtani

Shohei Ohtani threw all fastballs during a 20-pitch bullpen session prior to yesterday’s game, marking the first time that the three-time MVP had thrown off a mound since February 25.  While Ohtani has continued to throw off flat ground in the interim, the month-plus break between proper pitching sessions added to the question of when exactly Ohtani might resume pitching duties in the big leagues, as a few weeks ago Dodgers manager Dave Roberts seemingly backed off the initial plan to have Ohtani pitching at some point in May.

Speaking with Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register and other reporters yesterday, Roberts was still non-committal, saying “it’s going to be awhile” before Ohtani makes his pitching debut in a Dodgers uniform.

“I think you start with the natural progression of a bullpen,” Roberts said.  “You’ve got to kind of mix in different pitches to then face hitters again.  It’s a start.  I don’t have a timeline.  I don’t think anyone does.  We’re a ways away.”

It has now been more than 19 months since Ohtani last pitched in a Major League game, as he sustained a right UCL tear during a 1 1/3-inning start for the Angels on August 23, 2023.  The subsequent surgery that September meant that he wouldn’t be pitching during the 2024 campaign, though the normal timeline for UCL surgeries indicated that Ohtani would be ready to go for Opening Day 2025.  However, an unexpected roadblock emerged when Ohtani suffered a labrum tear in his non-throwing shoulder while trying to steal a base during the World Series, which led to an arthroscopic procedure on his left shoulder this past November.  This injury wasn’t seen as too great an impediment to Ohtani’s return to pitching, and obviously not to his role as the Dodgers’ DH, as Ohtani has been able to hit normally this season.

If Ohtani was only a pitcher, in all likelihood he would be pitching in the majors right now, as he would’ve been able to proceed on a regular rehab timeline.  But of course, nothing is normal when it comes to Ohtani and his unique status as a two-way superstar, as he and the Dodgers have balanced both his arm health along with his duties as a hitter.  For instance, he limited some throwing sessions last fall since Ohtani was naturally more focused on trying to help Los Angeles win a championship, and then the added wrinkle of his left labrum issue impacted his usual offseason prep.

Roberts said the month-long break from mound sessions was done in part to get Ohtani fully ramped up as a hitter for his team’s earlier start to the 2025 season, as the Dodgers and Cubs played two games in Japan on March 18-19 before the rest of the league kicked off action three days ago.  The manager also stressed again that “we still want him to pitch.  He wants to pitch.  I think he can handle it,” but also noted that the club has no reason or desire to rush Ohtani back to pitching.

“I think the question is how much do we need him right now and I think we’ve answered that,” Roberts said.  “His health is paramount, most important.  So whenever that time is and his buildup reaches its full maturation, he’ll pitch for us.”

L.A. has so many pitching options that the team is expected to move to a six-man rotation once some hurlers start returning from the injured list.  Beyond the starting five of Blake Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow, Roki Sasaki, and Dustin May, the Dodgers will have even more than just a single sixth-starter option given how Clayton Kershaw, Tony Gonsolin, Emmet Sheehan, and Ohtani are all expected to be back at various points in the 2025 season.  It is wholly unlikely that Los Angeles will have all nine rotation candidates healthy at once, but in the event of a slight pitching surplus, it’s a sign of the team’s depth that having Ohtani pitch is almost a luxury, on top of what he can contribute at the plate.

Since his debut in 2018, Shohei Ohtani has gone 38-19 with a 3.01 ERA and 608 strikeouts. In that time, only five starters (min. 400 IP) have a lower ERA, and only six have a higher strikeout rate. There is no denying that Ohtani has been a terrific pitcher when he has been healthy enough to take the mound. Alas, injuries have limited the two-way superstar to just 86 starts in seven MLB seasons. He has not pitched in a big league game since August 2023. Of course, that hasn’t stopped him from being one of the best players in the world – he won his third MVP in 2024 without pitching a single inning – but it would be an understatement to say that fans are excited to see him back on the mound in 2025.

Unfortunately, the wait might be longer than initially expected. Not only is Ohtani working his way back from UCL surgery in September 2023, but he is also recovering from surgery on his non-throwing shoulder this past November. In February, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts suggested Ohtani could start facing live batters ahead of the Tokyo Series and return to the team’s rotation at some point in May – perhaps even earlier. As recently as two weeks ago, that still seemed to be the case. This past Thursday, however, the skipper was singing a slightly different tune.

Ohtani has not thrown off of a mound since a bullpen session on February 25. Roberts told reporters (including Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times) that the team is being extra cautious with the two-way player as he gets back into games as DH. His last bullpen session came three days before his first Cactus League appearance as a hitter. “We just felt that to intensify the bullpens, alongside of the intensity of the games, wasn’t smart,” Roberts explained. “So we just wanted to kind of slow-play it.”

Asked if Ohtani could still return to the rotation in May, Roberts was noncommittal: “We just don’t know.”

Pitching coach Mark Prior said the Dodgers are “trying to control overall workload management” for Ohtani’s left shoulder. He told Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register, “There’s a little bit of a shift towards making sure he’s dialed in, ready to go, from a DH standpoint.” Thankfully, Prior does not believe Ohtani’s new timeline is any cause for concern. This isn’t a sign of a major setback; the Dodgers simply seem to be exercising the utmost caution with their most important player. Still, it’s worth noting that Ohtani’s timeline to return looks longer than it did a few weeks ago. As Sonja Chen of MLB.com points out, Ohtani is now unlikely to face live opponents until the team gets back from Tokyo.

As thrilling as it will be to finally see Ohtani back on a big league mound, one absolutely cannot fault the Dodgers for playing things safe. With Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Roki Sasaki, Tony Gonsolin, and Dustin May in the fold, L.A. isn’t exactly short on rotation depth to begin the season. Moreover, the worst-case scenario is that Ohtani suffers an injury that prevents him from pitching or hitting for any period of time. Needless to say, the Dodgers understand that better than anyone, and they’re taking precautions to avoid such a disaster.

Shohei Ohtani spoke with reporters (including ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez and The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya) at the Dodgers FanFest event today, and provided something of an update on when he might make his return to a big league mound.  Ohtani had a UCL-related surgery in September 2023 that kept him from pitching in 2024, and his recovery hit another snag when he had arthroscopic surgery on his left (non-throwing) shoulder following the World Series.  Through he described the latter procedure as “complicated,” Ohtani said his rehab has been “pretty smooth,” with everything proceeding “on schedule.”

A clearer timeline will emerge once Ohtani starts throwing bullpen sessions during Spring Training.  When asked if Ohtani could return to pitching in May, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said that fluid projection “sounds about right.”  A May return would mark roughly 21 months in between Major League pitches for Ohtani, whose last game as a pitcher came on August 23, 2023 when he was still a member of the Angels.

There hasn’t been any suggestion that Ohtani’s pitching rehab will interfere with his prep work as a hitter, so Ohtani is expected to take his usual place as the Dodgers’ designated hitter while he completes the final ramp-up to his debut in the L.A. rotation.  Trying to manage both at the same time will naturally present a challenge for Ohtani, yet it is nothing he hasn’t already faced in his unique career as a two-way star.  Ohtani didn’t pitch in 2019 due to Tommy John surgery and he pitched only 1 2/3 innings in 2020 due to a flexor strain in his right elbow.

Needless to say, the Dodgers will be as careful as possible in managing Ohtani’s rehab, as the worst-case scenario would be a setback on the pitching side that also requires Ohtani to miss time in the lineup.  While more will be known once Ohtani actually begins his bullpen workouts, holding him back until May seems like a fair hedge for now, as it will give both the pitcher and the team plenty of time to evaluate the final stages of his UCL and shoulder procedures.

It is already expected that Los Angeles will deploy a six-man rotation in 2025, to accommodate not just Ohtani but several other pitchers returning from significant injuries.  A six-man rotation also comes closer to the once-weekly pitching schedule observed by NPB teams, so this could help Yoshinobu Yamamoto and now Roki Sasaki better adjust to pitching in the majors.  The Dodgers have been loading up on both starting and relief pitching to have as much depth as possible, giving the team an embarrassment of riches if everyone is healthy.

The full complement of rotation candidates includes Ohtani, Yamamoto, Sasaki, Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow, Dustin May, and Tony Gonsolin, plus Clayton Kershaw is expected to re-sign with L.A. at some point.  Bobby Miller, Justin Wrobleski, Landon Knack and Ben Casparius are also on hand as further depth options in the minors.  If this wasn’t enough, Tanner Scott and Kirby Yates were both signed to bolster the already-strong bullpen.

If it didn’t seem like Ohtani could do any more following his 50-50 season (or officially, a 54-59 season) and a World Series championship in 2024, returning to his old form as a pitcher would be a suitably amazing encore.  Ohtani has a 3.01 ERA over 481 2/3 career innings as a starter in the big leagues, as well as a 31.2% strikeout rate and an 8.9% walk rate.

Shohei Ohtani hasn’t thrown a big league pitch since August 23, 2023, as the superstar underwent a UCL surgery that kept him off the mound for the entirety of the 2024 season.  Ohtani is expected to return to pitching during the 2025 campaign, though Dodgers manager Dave Roberts it is “very unlikely” Ohtani pitches during the team’s season-opening series in Tokyo against the Cubs on March 18-19.

“I just don’t see us starting the clock in March to then think that we would keep that continuously going through October. Then, that would call for a break or reprieve in the middle of the season, so I don’t know,” Roberts told USA Today’s Bob Nightengale and other reporters.

Ohtani’s recovery process hit a minor speed bump when he suffered a labrum tear in his left (non-throwing) shoulder while attempting to steal second base in Game 2 of the World Series.  He underwent arthroscopic surgery to address the problem shortly after the Fall Classic was over, and he is expected to be ready for the start of Spring Training, at least as a hitter.

“I don’t think the left shoulder is going to have much of an impact on Shohei’s pitching,” Roberts said, noting that Ohtani’s elbow is naturally “the biggest factor.”  The manager didn’t have a set idea yet about “when he starts pitching in Major League games,” other than to say that the Dodgers wouldn’t be pushing the two-way star back to the mound until he is ready.

For the second straight year, Los Angeles is opening the season a little earlier than the rest of the league by playing in an international series.  The Dodgers faced the Padres in a two-game series in Seoul last March, and now they’ll head to Tokyo for what is expected to be an even bigger event, given Ohtani’s return to his home country.  This bit of schedule irregularity adds another wrinkle to the Dodgers’ plans, both for Ohtani specifically and for the roster in general, given how the team has to ramp up for regular-season games in between two long international flights and then return to Cactus League play before the full season slate begins on March 27.

It should be noted that Roberts downplayed the idea of Ohtani pitching in those two games in Japan, but not the possibility of pitching during that March 27-29 series against the Tigers.  The Dodgers’ plan of using a six-man rotation adds more flexibility, since the team is trying to create extra rest for not just Ohtani, but several pitchers with a checkered health history.  While L.A. was able to overcome a mountain of pitching injuries to win the World Series, obviously the team would like to avoid walking that same tightrope in 2025, and would prefer to have a proper rotation healthy and ready for another deep postseason run.

Like always, Ohtani will be a fascinating figure to watch, as his Dodgers debut as a pitcher is now the follow-up to his magical first season with the organization.  Ohtani’s time with the Angels is clear evidence that he can produce at a high level as both a pitcher and hitter simultaneously, but doing so after a major UCL-related injury does add another degree of difficulty to Ohtani’s already-unique skillset.