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Los Angeles Dodgers' Star Shohei Ohtani Offers Injury Update as He Works His Way Back From Elbow Surgery

After undergoing elbow surgery at the end of 2023, Los Angeles Dodgers' superstar Shohei Ohtani says he's swinging the bat at 100 percent effort. Ohtani won't be able to pitch this season but will serve as the team's designated hitter.
Brady Farkas|
Los Angeles Dodgers' Star Shohei Ohtani Offers Injury Update as He Works His Way Back From Elbow Surgery
Los Angeles Dodgers' Star Shohei Ohtani Offers Injury Update as He Works His Way Back From Elbow Surgery

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Los Angeles Dodgers

Los Angeles Dodgers' superstar Shohei Ohtani says he is swinging at 100 percent effort right now as he works his way back from elbow surgery.

Ohtani had the elbow surgery at the end of the 2023 season and it will cause him to not be able to pitch at all in 2024, but he's expected to serve as the Dodgers' everyday designated hitter.

Per Fabian Ardaya of 'The Athletic.'

Shohei Ohtani said he is swinging at around 100 percent effort right now. Next step is either facing live pitching or facing velocity off a machine.

The team will likely work him into spring training slowly, but the fact that he's swinging this well already is a great sign for the Dodgers, who figure to be World Series favorites.

Ohtani signed a 10-year, $700 million deal with Los Angeles in the offseason, serving as the biggest contract in North American sports history. His exit from the Angels to the Dodgers is also the biggest story of baseball's offseason.

One of the most talented (if not the most talented) players that we've ever seen, Ohtani has won two American League MVP Awards in the last three years. He's coming off a season in which he hit 44 homers for the Angels. That led the American League, despite him missing almost the entire last month of play.

Ohtani is a lifetime .274 hitter with 171 homers and 86 stolen bases. He joins Tyler Glasnow, Teoscar Hernandez, Manuel Margot and Yoshinobu Yamamoto as key offseason additions for LA.

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Brady Farkas
BRADY FARKAS

Brady Farkas is a baseball writer for Fastball on Sports Illustrated/FanNation and the host of 'The Payoff Pitch' podcast which can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Videos on baseball also posted to YouTube. Brady has spent nearly a decade in sports talk radio and is a graduate of Oswego State University. You can follow him on Twitter @WDEVRadioBrady. 

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