Cody Snavely
The Los Angeles Dodgers made headways during the 2024 Major League Baseball offseason when they struck gold and landed two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani to a massive 10-year $700 million deal. However, so far, the Dodgers have only been able to experience Ohtani, the hitter.
Well, that is all about to change for the upcoming 2025 season as Ohtani is finally set to return to his two-way player status, but when he takes the mound for the Dodgers is another question.
Prior to joining the Dodgers, Shohei Ohtani underwent his second career Tommy John surgery, ending his 2023 season prematurely. However, the then 28-year-old was able to win his second American League Most Valuable Player Award.
Despite only playing one position this season as the Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter, Ohtani was still able to set himself apart from the competition, becoming the first player to win the MVP as a designated hitter and creating the 50/50 club.
Overall, Ohtani set the standard in the National League with a .310/.390/.646 slash line while leading the National League in runs (134), home runs (54), RBI (130), OBP (.390), SLG (.646), and OPS (1.036).
This success continued into October, when the two-way star finally got his chance to play on the biggest stage in the postseason, helping the Dodgers secure their eighth World Series championship in franchise history.
After all that, the Dodgers and their fans still have not seen him play the other part of his game, which is taking the mound. Ohtani has a lifetime 3.01 ERA in 481.2 innings pitched.
However, the question is when Ohtani will finally take the mound in 2025.
After winning the National League Most Valuable Player Award, Ohtani stated that he would aim to take the ball for the Dodgers during the first two games of the 2025 season, which will be played in Tokoyo, Japan, against the Chicago Cubs.
But over the last few days, we have gotten more clarity about the Dodgers’ plans for their star player.
In an interview between Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts and Hideki Kuriyama from Hochi News, the Dodgers manager revealed he doesn’t plan on letting Shohei Ohtani pitch until May this coming season.
This year, he is a two-way player, but I don’t plan on letting him pitch until May 2025. He hasn’t pitched for a whole year, so he won’t be able to pitch from March to October (2024). We have to think about the number of innings he will pitch. He (Ohtani) knows that too.
Multiple insiders have long speculated that the Dodgers would delay Ohtani’s return on the mound not only due to his rehab from Tommy John’s Surgery but also due to the offseason labrum surgery as a result of his injury in the 2024 World Series against the New York Yankees in Game Two.
That said, Roberts alluded to wanting Ohtani’s arm available in October, which is something that had not had during this past postseason, including missing most of their staff as Tyler Glasnow, Clayton Kershaw, and Gavin Stone all had their seasons end due to various injuries.
With the calendar turning to January, we are less than a month away from when Dodgers pitchers and catchers report to Glendale, Arizona, on or around Saturday, February 10th, 2025.
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