Dodgers' Dave Roberts Announces Shohei Ohtani News Ahead of Series vs Diamondbacks

Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts announced that two-way star Shohei Ohtani will both pitch and hit in his start against the Arizona Diamondbacks this week.

Ohtani is scheduled to pitch in Wednesday's game, and it appears he'll also be leading off for his third straight pitching start.

Shohei Ohtani will be in the lineup as the DH once again when he starts on the mound Wednesday, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts says.
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) June 1, 2026

The Dodgers have had Ohtani's last two pitching starts come ahead of days off, making it an easy decision to have him hit. However, the Dodgers play a four-game series with Arizona, meaning they don't have Thursday off.

Nevertheless, Ohtani is going to continue his two-way duties, which makes sense considering how well he's been hitting as of late.

Ohtani has hit a home run in each of his last two pitching starts. Over the last 15 games, he's hitting .386 with three home runs, 14 RBIs and an OPS of 1.152.

“I feel it’s gradually improving,” Ohtani said in Japanese of his offense last week. “If I could get [the ball] a little more to left-center, my hitting will go up another level."

On the mound, Ohtani has been one of the best pitchers in baseball this year, sporting a 0.82 ERA across 55 innings.

However, he's battled his command over the last couple starts, and didn't feel great in his last outing against the Colorado Rockies despite throwing six no-hit innings.

“I was just battling the lack of command I had throughout the night,” Ohtani said through his interpreter after that start. “Just way too many walks, and of course you wanna avoid the hits, but the result of that was a lot of walks today, and that’s something that I just don’t really want to do.”

“I think I could’ve pitched deeper into the game if I give up hits,” Ohtani added. “Just the walks lead to shorter outings. And I would rather take the days where I get hit a little bit but still be efficient rather than walking and just not being able to pitch deeper into the game.”

Ohtani will look to rectify his command troubles against an Arizona team that won 10 of 11 games before getting swept by the Seattle Mariners over the weekend.

He's been adamant all year long that he's not dealing with any additional fatigue from his full two-way workload. However, the Dodgers will continue to monitor how he's doing on a start-by-start basis.

“I think [Ohtani] understands that it’s fluid,” Roberts said last month of the team's plan for him. “I don’t think that there is one model. It should be a read and react thing."

While Ohtani is going to pitch and hit on Wednesday, it remains to be seen if he's in the lineup on Thursday. The Dodgers are in a stretch of 10 consecutive games before their next off day on Monday, June 8. The Dodgers then play another nine games in a row before their next off day after that.

That schedule isn't exactly conducive to getting Ohtani extra rest after his pitching days.

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