Shohei Ohtani is returning to Samurai Japan for the 2026 World Baseball Classic, but it was recently revealed that he will only be serving as the team’s designated hitter in the international tournament.
Ar DodgerFest, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shared it was Ohtani’s decision not to pitch in the WBC, while Ohtani said he was unsure and it would be based on how he’s feeling. But there’s now some more clarification on why Ohtani won’t be pitching for Japan this time in the tournament.
Even if Ohtani insisted on taking the mound in the WBC, he reportedly would have been unable to secure an insurance policy, via Evan Drellich of The Athletic:
“It covers four years for pitchers, two years for hitters. So that means if — if, this is a hypothetical — Ohtani were to pitch and were to be covered to pitch, which, according to information Ken (Rosenthal) and I had, he was not going to be. The insurance was not going to sign off on Shohei Ohtani being covered as a pitcher. But had he been, that would have meant the full 70, not the discounted 46 million with net present value and the deferrals, that $70 million per year for four years would have been covered under that policy,$280 million. That’s obviously the most extreme example I can give you. But the point here is, when you have one star player on a big contract go down, the insurance company can very quickly take a bath. And that is what I was told happened last time, that the insurance company did not win with the amount of money that it had to pay out based on what went on last time.”
MLB players require insurance to participate in the WBC, unless their team waives the requirement.
If the Dodgers waived the requirement and Ohtani were to get injured, they would still have to pay his full salary. Ohtani could also decide to waive his salary if he gets injured to participate as a pitcher, which is likely where Roberts noted it was still Ohtani’s decision on pitching.
National Financial Partners provides most of the coverage, but the firm has been picky about which players to approve after Jose Altuve and Edwin Díaz sustained injuries during the 2023 WBC.
If Ohtani suffered a pitching injury in this year’s WBC, the broker would have been on the hook to pay the Dodgers his full $70 million salary for the next four seasons, even though his deferrals that bring the present-day value down to around $46 million.
Ohtani returned to the mound last season after not pitching at all in 2024 while recovering from right elbow surgery.
The Dodgers took a methodical approach to building up Ohtani and fully stretched him out by the playoffs. He wound up logging 67.1 innings between the regular season and postseason.
Miguel Rojas ‘disappointed’ by WBC insurance requirement
Several notable players were unable to secure an insurance policy to participate in the 2026 WBC, including Ohtani’s Dodgers teammate Miguel Rojas.
Rojas was denied coverage due to being on the verge of turning 37 years old. Any player 37 or older is unable to be insured for the WBC.
“Definitely disappointed,” Rojas said. “I’m not happy with the way things are. I didn’t know that my chance to go represent my country for the first and only time, probably as a player, was going to get cut because of an insurance problem.
“Even though we know we have to be ready for the season, and we have to play and be ready for our contract. At the end of the day, we didn’t know all those stipulations were going to be in place the way they are right now.
“My only question is, why is it just with our countries? Venezuela, Puerto Rico, we’ve seen a couple of Dominican players. I don’t see that happening with the United States or happening with Japan.
“I’m not trying to attack anybody, or attack what’s going on, or see what’s happening behind the scenes. But at the end of the day, it feels like it’s just happening with the players who want to represent their country from Latin America. So there are a lot of things I would like to talk about with someone in control, with someone from MLB.
“It’s really hard to not have the opportunity to put my country on my chest and have the opportunity to represent them and help win a World Baseball Classic. Not having the opportunity to do it because I’m 37 years old—that’s not right. I don’t feel that’s right.
“If I can still play in the big leagues for the Dodgers, why not go play for my team in Venezuela and represent my country?”
If you love our reporting, choose DodgerBlue.com as a preferred source on Google.
