Hot on the heels of winning his third career MVP award, Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani is aiming to continue his torrid stretch of unbelievable performance.
The hopes for Ohtani going forward is to rebound from the arthroscopic surgery to repair a labrum tear in his left shoulder. He suffered the injury during Game 2 of the World Series on a stolen base attempt, but early reports following the procedure were that Ohtani is going to make a full recovery in time for Spring Training,
He is also still rehabbing and building his arm back up after undergoing elbow surgery in late 2023, which prevented him from pitching this year. The hope was Ohtani would be ready for the 2025 season, but the shoulder surgery clouded that outlook a bit.
Still, Ohtani is focused on being ready by Opening Day of the 2025 as both a hitter and pitcher, but won’t rush anything, per Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic:
“The goal is to be ready for Opening Day,” Ohtani said. “That includes hitting and pitching. We are kind of taking our time. Obviously we want to make sure that I’m healthy first. We’re not going to rush anything. I think, discussing my shoulder, I think we are going to take a little bit more time and be conservative and we’re going to make sure I’m healthy before I step back on the mound.”
The Dodgers are still likely to approach Ohtani’s recovery, preparation and workload with precise caution, as his performance on both sides are extremely valued.
Ohtani’s build-up on the mound was going as planned prior to his shoulder subluxation and subsequent surgery, and shouldn’t be impacted too significantly from a health standpoint as it’s his non-throwing arm. However, the delay caused by the surgery pushed Ohtani’s timeline back as he’s needed to pause his throwing program altogether.
The Dodgers officially begin their season on March 18 with the Tokyo Series, but the more realistic goal for him seems to be the domestic home opener on March 27. If anything, the most likely outcome would be Ohtani playing as the designated hitter in Japan, and getting back on the mound as a starting pitcher sometime during April.
Shohei Ohtani caps off storybook season
Along with his first World Series, Ohtani accompanied it with the Hank Aaron Award, the Edgar Martinez Outstanding Designated Hitter Award, the NL Outstanding Player as part of the Players Choice Awards, Sporting News’ MLB Player of the Year, and his third Silver Slugger Award while being selected to the All-MLB Team.
Ohtani’s 50-50 season put him in a category of his own, and saw him push the limits of what he could do on the bases to achieve it.
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