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.