Shohei Ohtani hasn’t thrown a big league pitch since Aug. 23, 2023, as the superstar underwent a UCL surgery that kept him off the mound for the entirety of the 2024 season. Ohtani is expected to return to pitching during the 2025 campaign, though Dodgers manager Dave Roberts it is “very unlikely” Ohtani pitches during the team’s season-opening series in Tokyo against the Cubs on March 18-19.
“I just don’t see us starting the clock in March to then think that we would keep that continuously going through October. Then, that would call for a break or reprieve in the middle of the season, so I don’t know,” Roberts told USA Today’s Bob Nightengale and other reporters.
Ohtani’s recovery process hit a minor speed bump when he suffered a labrum tear in his left (non-throwing) shoulder while attempting to steal second base in Game 2 of the World Series. He underwent arthroscopic surgery to address the problem shortly after the Fall Classic was over, and he is expected to be ready for the start of Spring Training, at least as a hitter.
“I don’t think the left shoulder is going to have much of an impact on Shohei’s pitching,” Roberts said, noting that Ohtani’s elbow is naturally “the biggest factor.” The manager didn’t have a set idea yet about “when he starts pitching in Major League games,” other than to say that the Dodgers wouldn’t be pushing the two-way star back to the mound until he is ready.
For the second straight year, Los Angeles is opening the season a little earlier than the rest of the league by playing in an international series. The Dodgers faced the Padres in a two-game series in Seoul last March, and now they’ll head to Tokyo for what is expected to be an even bigger event, given Ohtani’s return to his home country. This bit of schedule irregularity adds another wrinkle to the Dodgers’ plans, both for Ohtani specifically and for the roster in general, given how the team has to ramp up for regular-season games in between two long international flights and then return to Cactus League play before the full season slate begins on March 27.
It should be noted that Roberts downplayed the idea of Ohtani pitching in those two games in Japan, but not the possibility of pitching during that March 27-29 series against the Tigers. The Dodgers’ plan of using a six-man rotation adds more flexibility since the team is trying to create extra rest for not just Ohtani, but several pitchers with a checkered health history. While L.A. was able to overcome a mountain of pitching injuries to win the World Series, obviously the team would like to avoid walking that same tightrope in 2025 and would prefer to have a proper rotation healthy and ready for another deep postseason run.
Like always, Ohtani will be a fascinating figure to watch, as his Dodgers debut as a pitcher is now the follow-up to his magical first season with the organization. Ohtani’s time with the Angels is clear evidence that he can produce at a high level as both a pitcher and hitter simultaneously, but doing so after a major UCL-related injury does add another degree of difficulty to Ohtani’s already unique skillset.
