Ohtani batted leadoff four times while pitching with the Angels, all in 2021. Monday is his first game on the mound with the Dodgers.
LOS ANGELES — Shohei Ohtani is batting first for the Dodgers on Monday night, as he did for all 70 of his previous games this year. Only this time, Ohtani is also the starting pitcher, his first time back on the mound in 22 months.
Given that this will be Ohtani’s first game pitching in so long, and he isn’t likely to pitch much longer than one inning, maybe two, and that Dodgers are at home, manager Dave Roberts said he at least considered taking Ohtani out of the leadoff spot, if only to ease some of the burden of going directly from pitching in the top of the first inning then having to immediately bat to open the bottom of the frame.
“I ran it by him and he said, ‘No problem, I’m good with it.’,” Roberts said Monday. “I don’t think it really affects him. This is going to be a short stint, and it could change going forward, but right now he feels very comfortable with taking the mound, then coming in the dugout, getting on his stuff and go take an at-bat.”
At DH and on the mound, Shohei Ohtani.
Tonight’s #Dodgers lineup vs. Padres: pic.twitter.com/AvXvZTWDG4
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) June 16, 2025
Ohtani did not bat in any of his 12 pitching starts in his first three seasons with the Angels. He flourished as a two-way player in his final three years in Anaheim, and batted in 71 of his 74 pitching starts. A rule change in 2022 facilitated that a two-way player — Ohtani has been the only player to qualify for this status — can essentially be two people for lineup purposes, such that Ohtani can remain in the game as designated hitter after his pitching is done.
In those three full two-way years with the Angels, Ohtani batted leadoff while pitching only four times, all in 2021. He had two hits in 12 at-bats, a home run and a double, with one walk and five strikeouts.
Three of those leadoff games came on the road, so Ohtani batted first before he took the mound. The only analagous situation to Monday at Dodger Stadium came on August 12, 2021 against the Blue Jays. Ohtani pitched a scoreless top of the first inning, then doubled to lead off the bottom of the frame. He later walked and scored, and pitched six innings for the win.
Ohtani won’t be pitching nearly that long on Monday, but another repeat from that 2021 Jays-Angels came is possible. Tesocar Hernández singled, scored, and drove in a run that night. He batted cleanup for Toronto that night and played right field, just like he is tonight against the Padres.