Dodgers Expect Shohei Ohtani To Be ‘Top-End Starter’

Shohei Ohtani put together a historic 2024 season with the Los Angeles Dodgers despite being limited to designated hitter duties while recovering from a second career right elbow surgery.

The two-way star is expected to return to the mound this season and cleared a major hurdle when he faced batters for the first time before the Dodgers’ series finale against the New York Mets at Citi Field.

Ohtani incorporated all of his pitches, including a curveball and slider that he only recently began throwing from flat ground. Ohtani also sat in the 94-97 mph range with his fastball, which was another encouraging sign as the 30-year-old works his way back to pitching.

While most pitchers deal with rust upon their return from surgery, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said the team expects Ohtani to be a frontline-caliber starter when he is cleared to pitch in big league games, even after not pitching for a lengthy amount of time, via Jorge Castillo of ESPN.com:

“If it kind of works out as it should, he’s a top-end starter,” Roberts said, “and so that’s kind of all of our expectations.”

Ohtani established himself as one of the best starting pitchers in baseball during his time with the Los Angeles Angels, going 38-19 with a 3.01 ERA, 3.31 FIP, 1.08 WHIP and 11.4 strikeouts per nine across 481.2 innings.

Ohtani enjoyed his best season on the mound in 2022 when he posted a 2.33 ERA in 28 starts and finished fourth in American League Cy Young Award voting.

If Ohtani can get back to that level — or even close to it — he would provide a significant boost to a Dodgers rotation that is currently without Tyler Glasnow, Roki Sasaki and Blake Snell due to injury. Of course, by the time Ohtani is ready to pitch for the Dodgers, they hope to have each of the aforementioned starters back in the rotation.

Shohei Ohtani’s new pitching schedule

Prior to facing batters last week, Ohtani had been on a schedule of throwing a light bullpen session every Wednesday and fuller work off the mound on Saturdays.

The three-time MVP recently confirmed that live batting practice sessions are now going to be a regular part of his weekly routine.

The Dodgers have not set a firm timeline for Ohtani to make his return to pitching this season. However, it has been reported that he won’t do so until after the All-Star break.