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.