It’s Time for Shohei Ohtani to Give Up Pitching for Good

The very thing that makes Shohei Ohtani the most extraordinary player in MLB history could be his one fatal flaw.

Unlike any player in baseball history, Ohtani can dominate at the plate and on the mound, but the time has come to decide whether pitching is worth the toll it has taken on his body.

The Dodgers put Ohtani on the injured list last week due to knee and biceps injuries that have persisted for months. The knee issues officially began on June 11, while the biceps problem has been around since sometime in May. He hasn’t made a start since July 3, and whenever he’d try to ramp up to return, the knee issue put additional stress on his biceps, stalling his progress. It’s highly unlikely he’ll be on the mound again this season.

Frankly, we should never see him toe the rubber again.

It would be a tough call, to say the least. In 14 starts this season, Ohtani has been dominant. He’s 8–2 with a 1.79 ERA, 0.95 WHIP and 95 strikeouts against 26 walks in 85 ⅔ innings. He generated 2.9 fWAR as a pitcher this season, his most since 2022 when he made a career-high 28 starts. We have been reminded of the incredible ability that made him the sport’s first genuine two-way star. Unfortunately, sustaining that ability has repeatedly come at a cost.

Ohtani has suffered a litany of injuries over the years while attempting to be a full-time starting pitcher and an everyday hitter. Those efforts haven’t previously impacted his abilities at the plate, but now that he’s 32, it appears that has begun to happen.

Ohtani has been trying to work his way back to the mound since that July 3 start, and his production as a hitter has dropped since. In 49 games, he’s slashed .259/.342/.518 with 12 home runs, 30 RBIs and a wRC+ of 127. Most other MLB players would be thrilled with those results, but his .860 OPS over that span is way down from the 1.000-plus marks he posted in each of the previous three seasons. His wRC+ in that time would be his lowest since 2020, and nearly 50 points lower than last season (172). The knee injury has also blunted the speed that helped him steal 59 bases two years ago. He only has 11 in 14 attempts this year.

The pitching injuries were already piling up in Ohtani’s first few seasons stateside. After 10 starts in 2018, he tore the ulnar collateral ligament in his right arm and needed Tommy John surgery. He didn’t pitch at all in ’19, and when he returned the next year he suffered a flexor strain after two starts and didn’t pitch again.

In 2021 and ‘22 he was largely healthy and made a combined 51 starts with no major issues. He followed that up with 23 starts in ’23 before tearing his UCL again and undergoing his second major elbow surgery in five years. He didn’t pitch the next year and returned to the mound after nearly two years in ‘25, throwing 47 innings over 14 starts. This season, he didn’t even make it to 90 innings before being shut down again.

Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani — Ohtani has pitched a total of 132 2/3 innings in the last three years. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Ohtani is in his ninth MLB season and has thrown 614 ⅓ innings in his career; 428 ⅓ came during a three-year stretch from 2021 through ‘23. That means nearly 70% of his career innings came during those three seasons. In his six other seasons combined, he has thrown just 186 innings.

When Ohtani isn’t on the mound he’s still one of the two most valuable batters on the planet, along with Aaron Judge. When healthy, he decimates opposing pitchers. He won an MVP in 2024 without throwing a single pitch, and won it again in ’25 despite only throwing 47 innings. The lesson? He doesn’t need to be on the mound to be one of the best players in baseball.

As he ages, the physical toll of continuing to pitch becomes increasingly difficult to justify. This season is just the latest example. He’s still an All-Star level player, but he hasn’t been superhuman. The Dodgers didn’t pay Ohtani $700 million to watch his greatest skill deteriorate while he fruitlessly chases more innings.

Ohtani pitched at an ace level when he was on the mound this season, and had he maintained that pace, he would have been in the mix for the NL Cy Young Award. Instead of chasing a new honor, the four-time MVP is now on the shelf as the playoffs approach. It’s the same story we’ve seen again and again with slight variations since he made his MLB debut. The physical demands of being both a starting pitcher and an everyday hitter may simply be too much for his body to handle.

At this point, the only solution is for Ohtani to give up pitching and focus on being a hitter. Even if the Dodgers somehow found a way to reduce his pitching workload, he’d still need to prepare like a pitcher every day. Ohtani would have to throw bullpens, maintain his regular pitching program and prepare his twice surgically repaired right elbow to throw 100 mph every few days. That’s the burden that has repeatedly knocked his pitching career sideways.

The Dodgers don’t need Ohtani to pitch. They have a loaded rotation led by Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow and, for the time being, Tarik Skubal. Snell and Glasnow have had issues staying on the mound but both are under contract through at least next season. Meanwhile, guys like Justin Wrobleski, Emmet Sheehan and Roki Sasaki provide additional rotation depth. Ohtani’s pitching is a luxury L.A. can afford to go without.

For years, Ohtani has wowed baseball with towering home runs, otherworldly exit velocities and offensive performances the game had never seen before. His ability to pitch made him unique, but it’s no longer worth the risk. His two-way experiment was one of the more impressive feats in sports history. Continuing it isn’t worth losing the magic he can create with a bat in his hands.

At the plate, Ohtani is a superhero. On the mound, he’s fragile. It no longer makes sense to risk Ohtani the hitter for a chance at Ohtani the pitcher.

Ohtani may be baseball’s Icarus. The thing that made him miraculous could ultimately be what brings him back down to earth.

The difference is Ohtani can walk away from his fatal flaw before it becomes his downfall.

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