When the Los Angeles Dodgers signed Shohei Ohtani during the offseason it was with an expectation that he would not resume pitching until 2025.
But as the 30-year-old continued to make progress with his throwing program throughout the year, whispers emerged of becoming an option to pitch for the Dodgers in October. They grew louder when manager Dave Roberts said the possibility hadn’t been fully ruled out.
Ohtani has continued to play catch from flat ground during the playoffs, but any notion of advancing beyond that can be ruled out.
During an interview with ESPN Radio, Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said Ohtani’s only role when it comes to pitching in the postseason is facing them as a batter:
“Just to hit them against them. … He is a one-way player for the next 10 days, and then he will go back to being a two-way player.”
With Dodgers trainer Thomas Albert and interpreter Will Ireton standing alongside him, Ohtani played a round of long toss from deep center field before Game 2 of the National League Division Series. It was the second time Ohtani did as much since the Dodgers began official NLDS workouts, and his furthest distance throwing.
During that bye week, Friedman noted Ohtani would continue throwing from flat ground but wasn’t expected to pitch against hitters.
“He’s definitely going to keep going. I don’t think we’ll progress to lives as we sit here right now, but we’ll kind of see how he feels, how quick turnarounds are, and we’ll feel that out as we go,” Friedman said. “Nothing is definitive, but as of now, we’re not going to do lives.”
Shohei Ohtani’s pitching progress
Given that Ohtani has not faced batters, he presumably will advance to doing so in a simulated game at some point during the offseason.
That would be necessary if the Dodgers hope to have Ohtani pitch during the Tokyo Series to begin the 2025 season.
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