For the first time since joining the Dodgers, Shohei Ohtani has thrown off a mound in spring training.
Ohtani is continuing to rehab from major elbow surgery he had toward the end of the 2023 season with the Angels. The ensuing offseason, he signed a $700 million deal with the Dodgers. The two-way superstar was limited to DH duties in 2024 and he still won NL MVP in addition to helping the Dodgers win the World Series. He did throw some bullpen sessions late last year, but never ramped it up to the point that he was a serious contender to come out of the bullpen in the playoffs.
He’ll now attempt to be a two-way star again, this time for the Dodgers in 2025. Saturday, he threw 14 pitches off a mound for his first bullpen session of the year. All his pitches were fastballs, sitting between 92-94 miles per hour, manager Dave Roberts told reporters. The timetable remains unchanged, which is that the Dodgers are planning to have him ready to join the rotation sometime in May.
The challenge here is Ohtani rehabbing as a pitcher while also playing full-time on the offensive side as a designated hitter, which means he won’t take a minor-league rehab stint and will just throw simulated games as he gets closer to game-ready.
“I think we’re doing a good job of … break(ing) up the hitting versus the pitching, the workload,” manager Dave Roberts said. “But I think we all feel good because he’s done it and he’s had success doing it. For us, it’s just making sure we work with him, understand what he feels he needs that particular day and days forthcoming.”
As Roberts alluded to, Ohtani has come back from Tommy John surgery before, it was just with the Angels several years ago.
Ohtani was last in a rotation in 2023, going 10-5 with a 3.14 ERA, 1.06 WHIP and 167 strikeouts against 55 walks in 132 innings. The Dodgers plan to be “creative” with Ohtani, which likely means they’ll go to six-man rotations at times and possibly even skip him a start or two on the mound while keeping as the everyday DH.
In the latter role last season, Ohtani hit .310/.390/.646 (190 OPS+) with 38 doubles, seven triples, 54 homers, 130 RBI, 134 runs, 59 steals and 9.2 WAR. It netted him his third MVP in four seasons. He finished second the year he didn’t win.
