It is said that the best things in life are worth the wait, and the Los Angeles Dodgers are hoping that will ring true this season with the highly-anticipated return of Shohei Ohtani to the mound in 2025.
It is easy to forget because of how dominant Ohtani was at the plate last season, but his two-way ability is why he earned what was the largest contract in sports history from the Dodgers.
Ohtani was limited to designated hitter duties in 2024, a season in which he only became the first 50-50 player in MLB history and won a third career unanimous MVP Award, among other accolades.
After undergoing Tommy John surgery on Sept. 19, 2023, Ohtani had still not recovered enough to safely return to full-effort pitching despite some external hope he would pitch in the World Series.
Although Ohtani demonstrated he is more than capable of earning every penny of his contract through hitting alone, he has a real passion for pitching and the thought of being able to do it once again has him looking forward to 2025, according to Juan Toribio of MLB.com:
“I think any starting pitcher can tell you that there’s a little bit of nervousness going into a game you start,” Ohtani said. “In a sense, I do miss that kind of atmosphere. But right now I’m really just focusing on progressing every day, really focusing on that.”
The last time he stepped on the mound in 2023, Ohtani finished with a 3.14 ERA and 1.06 WHIP in 132 innings en route to his second American League MVP. He became the first player in MLB history to win multiple MVP Awards unanimously.
Ohtani’s best season as a pitcher came in 2022, when he had a 2.33 ERA, 1.01 WHIP and 219 strikeouts over 166 innings. His ERA and strikeout total were both sixth-best in baseball that season, the highest Ohtani has ever finished in either category.
Shohei Ohtani delayed to pitch in 2025
While Ohtani and the Dodgers had been planning on a return to pitching in 2025, that is going to be delayed.
Even though the shoulder injury Ohtani suffered in Game 2 of the World Series was to his non-throwing arm, it nonetheless is going affect his ability to be ready to pitch at the start of the 2025 season.
After undergoing surgery on Nov. 5 to repair a tear to his left labrum, Ohtani won’t be available to pitch when the Dodgers start the 2025 season with the Tokyo Series.
And when factoring in an innings limit in addition to the Dodgers’ preference of not having to temporarily shut Ohtani down at some point in 2025, he likely won’t begin pitching until May at the earliest.
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