Dodgers Manager Dave Roberts Reveals When Shohei Ohtani Will Make 2025 Pitching Debut
Shohei Ohtani is a generational talent who helped lead the Los Angeles Dodgers to their eighth World Series trophy and earned National League Most Valuable Player honors along the way.
Despite all this, we have only seen half of the MVP’s truest potential as a Dodger.
Recovering from a torn UCL, the baseball world knew that Ohtani would not pitch in 2024 when signing with Los Angeles, but the two-time MVP exceeded all expectations earning a third MVP (his first in the NL), smashing 54 home runs, and recording 59 stolen bases — a feat no player had ever achieved.
Ohtani also underwent surgery this past November to repair a torn labrum in his throwing shoulder sustained in Game 2 of the World Series after sliding into second base.
The offensive juggernaut is ready to remind the world of baseball that he is, in fact, a two-way star, and is set to return to the mound in 2025. When asked about his recovery towards pitching again, he told Bob Nightengale of USA Today, “so far, so good” and that “everything is going well.”
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts specified to Hochi news in a conversation with Kuriyama Hideki, Chief Baseball Officer of Nippon-Ham Fighters, just how well the process is moving along. The Dodgers skipper is eyeing the month of May to get his MVP back on the mound.
Although Ohtani’s personal goal was to pitch during the Dodgers’ 2025 season opener in Japan, Roberts said, “We are not going to start him pitching until May.”
Kuriyama, who has also won a World Championship with Ohtani as manager of the Japanese national team for the 2023 World Baseball Classic, knows the MVP very well. He wondered if Ohtani would push back on the May timeline, whereas Roberts responded, “I’ll persuade him with the help of doctors and trainers,” as the two laughed.
Taking a more conservative approach to the health of one of the greatest talents this sport has ever seen is definitely the wiser choice. The Dodgers also want to make sure Ohtani is healthy enough to pitch when the games really matter in September and October.
Photo Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images
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