LOS ANGELES — A timeline for Shohei Ohtani’s long-awaited return to the mound is beginning to take shape. Ohtani is likely to resume pitching in Major League games sometime in May, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Saturday at DodgerFest.
“It might be earlier,” Roberts added, “but I think that the first thing I said earlier this offseason was it wasn’t going to be in the Japan Series. … Once he gets to Spring Training and we see where the throwing program is, I think we’ll just go from there.”
Ohtani, who didn’t pitch at all during his first season with the Dodgers as he recovered from a 2023 UCL repair procedure on his right elbow, is still working his way back from undergoing left shoulder surgery in November. The three-time MVP began his offseason throwing program in December, and Roberts said then that it was “very unlikely” that Ohtani would pitch during the team’s season-opening series against the Cubs in Tokyo.
Ohtani said he has also resumed hitting and overall feels “on schedule” in his rehab. He and the Dodgers have an abridged Spring Training for the second straight year due to the Tokyo Series, not to mention an offseason that has also been shorter than usual because of their World Series championship.
“The offseason was short. It actually felt short as well,” Ohtani said through interpreter Will Ireton. “And obviously, with the surgery, it was even shorter.”
On the hitting side, the Dodgers remain encouraged that Ohtani injured his back shoulder — on his non-throwing arm — rather than his lead shoulder. Roberts is encouraged by how Ohtani has progressed.
“I saw some videos recently,” Roberts said, “and you just wouldn’t think that there was any surgery this past winter.”
The Dodgers are expected to employ a six-man rotation this year and have plenty of options who can take the ball while Ohtani gets back to full strength. That includes countryman Roki Sasaki, the 23-year-old phenom whom the Dodgers signed last month.
There are some questions surrounding how effective Ohtani will be in his return to pitching. His 2023 UCL repair was his second major elbow surgery; he also underwent Tommy John surgery as a rookie in 2018.
When he first returned to the mound after recovering from Tommy John surgery, Ohtani made only two starts in 2020. The next year, though, Ohtani was just about back to normal as a pitcher, posting a 3.18 ERA across 23 starts in ’21.
For several reasons, Ohtani’s first recovery from major elbow surgery may not reveal much about how he’ll recover from the second one. The 2020 season was both shortened and delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the timeline for players to ramp up was different with “Summer Camp” replacing Spring Training.
Beyond that, it’s more difficult to come back from a second major elbow surgery — and the shoulder procedure throws another variable into an already complex equation.
That said, there’s so much about Ohtani and his two-way superstardom that has been unprecedented at the Major League level. The Dodgers believe that that won’t change even as he battles back from these injuries.
“I think his shoulder is going to be in a good spot,” said Freddie Freeman, who is also rehabbing from offseason surgery heading into Spring Training. “I mean, he’s got two arms that he’s rehabbing right now, but I think Shohei’s going to be Shohei.”
