Max Langer
At DodgerFest earlier this month, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Shohei Ohtani pitching in May ” sounds about right.” Earlier in the off-season, Dodgers President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman, General Manager Brandon Gomes, and Roberts all indicated that the Dodgers would plan on using the unconventional six-man rotation.
The benefits are obvious. Roki Sasaki, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Ohtani are accustomed to pitching once a week. Tony Gonsolin, Dustin May, Bobby Miller, and Landon Knack are all talented pitchers who’d likely be staples in other rotations across MLB. The six-man rotation offers guys a lot of extra rest and presumably helps prevent injuries, an issue that’s plagued the Dodgers.
But on Friday, while speaking with the media at Camelback Ranch, Andrew Friedman informed reporters that the Dodgers would be using a five-man rotation until pitcher Ohtani fully recovered and has been ramped from the right UCL repair procedure he underwent back in September 2023, when he was still a member of the Los Angeles Angels. It was his second major surgery on his right arm.
On Wednesday, after completing a pitching session, Ohtani said of his arm, “I’ve gone through it with the elbow before, and with the shoulder, it’s a little bit more complicated. I do believe that’s the part that I have to be patient.” Ohtani is also trying to recover from the shoulder injury he suffered during Game 2 of the 2024 World Series when he tried to steal a base in the seventh inning.
The Dodgers will be cautious with Shohei Ohtani, their hitter and especially their pitcher. As we’ve seen, their priority is making sure everyone is healthy for the postseason, when they’ll try to defend their World Series championship.
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