Shohei Ohtani’s plan, now that he’s a 2-way player again

A look back to his final three years in Anaheim as to what a two-way workload of pitching & hitting might look like in 2025.

Shohei Ohtani is throwing in addition to hitting at Camelback Ranch, which adds a new dimension that was different last spring as he was coming off his second elbow surgery. Now that Ohtani is back to being a two-way player again, let’s take a look at what the schedule might look like for the superstar.

Ohtani’s first official bullpen session of camp will come this weekend at Camelback Ranch, per reporters on-site in camp. The usual progression in pitching rehab and build-up includes facing hitters, then pitching in games and gradually increasing workload. That won’t be feasible for Ohtani during the season, since he’ll also be hitting. He can’t go rehab on the mound in the minors while also in the lineup for the major league team.

Dave Roberts on Wednesday said that we won’t see Ohtani pitch in any exhibition games either. From Fabian Ardaya at The Athletic:

Ohtani is not expected to pitch in any Cactus League games, Dave Roberts said. However, the Dodgers manager emphasized that Ohtani’s return to two-way play will come “sooner than later.”

Figuring out the steps involved in making that happen — since Ohtani won’t have a minor-league rehab assignment while he’s active and hitting — remains to be seen.

Ohtani has been swinging a bat, and expects to be ready to start at designated hitter by March 18, the date of the first game in Tokyo against the Cubs.

Which brings us to a different part of the plan.

Last year, while only hitting, Ohtani started 159 games for the Dodgers at DH, including starting every game after May 28 plus all 16 postseason games. This year, the Dodgers will need to monitor the load of two-way playing. There are no restrictions within the rules for Ohtani, who can remain in the game as a DH once he’s out of the game as a pitcher. It’ll be a matter of managing his workload.

From Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register:

“I do think there’s going to be more off-days, as far as on the DH side,” Roberts said. “But I think, for me, we haven’t got there yet as far as what he’s comfortable with, what he feels good about. I’m looking forward to those conversations, but it’s obviously going to be a little more complex than it was last year.”

To that end, let’s look at Ohtani’s final three years with the Angels, when he was a fully-operational two-way star. He started 146 games in 2021, 153 games in 2022, and 135 games in 2023.

But more details add context. In 2021, there was no universal designated hitter in the National League, and there wasn’t yet a rule that allowed Ohtani to remain in the game as a hitter if he started on the mound. That year, he only started once in the Angels’ 10 games in NL parks, and that was when he pitched (on June 11 in Arizona). There were also three pitching starts in which he didn’t hit at all.

In 2023, Ohtani last pitched on August 23, leaving as a pitcher in the second inning with the elbow injury that would require surgery. He played later that night as DH in the second game of a doubleheader, and remained in the lineup for another week and a half before finally shutting the season down for an out-of-contention Angels team.

Here are Ohtani’s starts during those last three two-way seasons:

• 2021: 145 out of 152 games (excluding NL parks with no DH)
• 2022: 153 of 162 games
• 2023: 135 of 137 games before shutting down the season for elbow surgery

So while it’s unlikely Ohtani will start another 159 games in 2025 for the Dodgers, he’s proven pretty durable even with a two-way workload.

Ohtani was asked about his workload on Wednesday. From Alden González at ESPN:

Asked how he’ll juggle hitting and pitching again, Ohtani said he wanted to “play as much as possible, as many games as possible.”

“But if the team feels like I should get a break,” Ohtani added through an interpreter, “I’ll follow that.”