Shohei Ohtani is present at his second spring training with the Los Angeles Dodgers. It is the first one where he is working as a two-way player.
After a season of working only as a designated hitter while healing from a 2023 surgery to repair a torn UCL then undergoing another surgery on his shoulder to repair a torn labrum, the Dodgers star said he is still recovering from the shoulder surgery but should be ready to hit this spring and make his return as a pitcher in May, per USA Today’s Bob Nightengale.
Ohtani expects to throw his first bullpen session this weekend and is already throwing all of his pitches on flat ground, according to The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya. However, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said earlier that it’s unlikely Ohtani pitches in a spring training game.
Ohtani’s progress as a hitter, however, appears to be progressing as usual.
All of this is in line with what was said at the Dodgers’ FanFest earlier this month. Ohtani was originally expected to be ready to pitch by Opening Day in 2025, but the torn labrum he sustained in Game 2 of the World Series pushed back that timeline.
Making Ohtani’s return to pitching tricky is the Dodgers aren’t going to want to lose him as a DH for a single game. Dodgers general manager Brandon Gomes has said he will be going straight from simulated games to real MLB games, bypassing a rehab assignment in the minors.
The good news for the Dodgers, or at least one of their many pieces of good news, is they don’t need Ohtani as a pitcher any time soon. They already have a rotation featuring Blake Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow and Roki Sasaki, with Tony Gonsolin, Dustin May, Landon Knack, Bobby Miller and many more competing for the final two spots of what the Dodgers have indicated will be a six-man rotation.
Ohtani’s return would, however, give the Dodgers a free roster spot, which they can use to expand a bullpen that will have to be limited to only seven pitchers as long as he’s out.
The Dodgers are scheduled to begin their season against the Chicago Cubs in the Japan Series on March 18.
