Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani just dropped a bombshell on the baseball world, though it’s one everyone perhaps should have seen coming.
Ohtani captured his third MVP in four years and won his first World Series ring last season, while becoming the first-ever 50-50 player (54 home runs and 59 steals) in MLB history. That type of success over such a protracted a time period can numb fans to the accomplishments, but Ohtani snapped open the eyes of anyone made drowsy by his greatness on Wednesday, when he announced his expected timeline to return to pitching.
“Shohei Ohtani says he’s still not fully recovered from his shoulder surgery but should be ready to DH this spring and pitch in May,” Bob Nightengale of USA Today reported via X on February 12.
Dodgers Considered Bringing Shohei Ohtani Back to Rotation for Last Year’s Playoff Run
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Star designated hitter and starting pitcher Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Ohtani served as a designated hitter for the Dodgers in 2024, as he took a break from pulling double-duty as a starting pitcher for the first time since 2019.
For his career, Ohtani has a 38-19 record across 86 MLB starts. He has an earned run average (ERA) of 3.01, 608 strikeouts and a career WHIP of 1.082.
The Dodgers’ starting staff struggled to stay healthy throughout the postseason and manager Dave Roberts mused openly about Los Angeles potentially risking pitching Ohtani in relief across the 2024 playoff run before it actually began.
“I just think like anything, I think that you should always leave some margin, a crack in the door, for any possibility. If things line up and there’s a need — and the game, his body, everything is telling us that it makes sense in that situation, great. And it would be storybook,” Roberts told SiriusXM Radio on September 13, 2024. “But I think that to kind of count on that, bet on that, I think that’s not a fair … way to go about it. But Shohei’s on board with just continuing his rehab process, and I wouldn’t put it past him to have an eye on that. We’ll just see how he plays out.”
Shohei Ohtani Will Begin Fulfilling Historic Dodgers Contract With Return to Mound
GettyLos Angeles star hitter and starting pitcher Shohei Ohtani takes an at-bat during the National League Championship Series in 2024.
Ohtani is under contract in L.A. through the 2033 campaign, when he will be 38 years old. The Dodgers are paying him $70 million per season on a deal worth $700 million overall, which reflects his supreme talent as both a hitter and a starting pitcher.
The team was able to defer much of that money, which has allowed the wealthiest franchise in baseball even more room to maneuver this offseason as it reloads the roster with aspirations of winning back-to-back World Series titles.
With that in mind, the Dodgers signed starting pitcher Blake Snell and acquired coveted Japanese prospect Roki Sasaki. Los Angeles also signed both Kiké Hernández and Clayton Kershaw to one-year deals and brought in reliever Tanner Scott.
