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Reactions to Shohei Ohtani winning MVP, plus a 2025 outlook

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Reaction to Ohtani winning NL MVP, plus an outlook on his readiness heading into 2025 for both hitting and pitching.

Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani won the National League MVP award on Thursday, the third MVP award he’s won in the last four years, all unanimously so.

Ohtani joined Frank Robinson as the only players to win MVP in both the American League and National League.

Clayton Kershaw, the 2014 NL MVP winner with the Dodgers, announced the voting results on MLB Network:

From some of Ohtani’s reaction on the ensuing conference call, a few notes. First from Bill Plunkett at the Orange County Register:

“My goal was to be able to pitch and contribute offensively. The fact that I knew I wasn’t going to be able to pitch this season just made me focus more on my offensive game,” Ohtani said. “Fortunately, I was able to produce and get this award, which is very humbling.”

Ohtani going into 2025 is managing not only his pitching rehab after September 2023 elbow surgery, but also left shoulder surgery this November to repair his labrum. The latter isn’t expected to affect Ohtani’s pitching, since it’s his non-throwing arm, but given that he has yet to face batters during rehab he likely won’t be ready to pitch right away to open the season.

From Jack Harris at the Los Angeles Times:

“The goal is to be ready for opening day, and that includes hitting and pitching,” Ohtani said. “But we are taking our time, obviously … I think we are going to take a little bit more time and be conservative and we’re going to make sure I’m healthy before I step back on the mound.”

Manager Dave Roberts didn’t specify a pitching timeline for Ohtani in a Thursday interview on SportsNet LA, but did talk about the approach with Ohtani as a two-way player in 2025.

“I do think there’s going to be some curtail in the stolen bases because he’s going to be pitching. I don’t think it’s something any of us has an answer to, because he’s only got so many bullets, or innings coming off Tommy John,” Roberts told John Hartung on SportsNet LA. How we ramp up in spring training, when we start this process — because I think we all understand we need to have him as strong and as fresh as we get into September and through October.