What's Changing for Shohei Ohtani the Pitcher This Season

The Los Angeles Dodgers took a cautious approach with Shohei Ohtani returning to pitching during the 2025 season before making a shift at his behest.

Ohtani paused his throwing progression last spring as the Dodgers prepared for the Tokyo Series, then resumed with bullpen sessions upon their return stateside. Given his importance in the Dodgers lineup as their designated hitter, a rehab assignment was never under consideration.

The Dodgers instead mapped out multiple rounds of live batting practice that saw Ohtani begin to slowly build his innings base. However, he found that to be somewhat detrimental to then playing a game as the DH that same night, and the Dodgers made an adjustment.

On June 16, 2025, Ohtani made his first pitching start in 663 days. He was limited to one inning against the San Diego Padres, but touched 100.2 mph with his four-seam fastball.

That sent Ohtani down a deliberate path of stretching out every couple starts amid a goal of being capable of pitching six and perhaps seven innings come the postseason.

Ohtani effectively completing a rehab assignment at the Major League was unprecedented but a success. The right-hander made it through the year healthy and now could be in the National League Cy Young Award conversation this year.

Shohei Ohtani back to 'normal pitcher' in 2026

With Ohtani entering his first full season as a starting pitcher since having a second Tommy John surgery, the Dodgers appear ready to take some of the limitations off him.

"I don't know how many innings he threw last year, but obviously with a full offseason, going north of what he did last year," manager Dave Roberts recently said.

"Honestly, I don't think I'm going to manage him any differently as far as each outing. I think there's certainly going to be extra time. It's not a five-day, six-day rotation. So there's going to be rest in between, but I think outside of that, it's not going to be the two-inning, three-inning governor.

"I think he's going to be used as a normal pitcher."

Ohtani reported to Camelback Ranch early this month and had already thrown multiple bullpen sessions before Dodgers pitchers and catchers started official workouts last weekend. Unlike Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Ohtani is not going to pitch in the World Baseball Classic.

The Dodgers have not yet revealed when Ohtani will start pitching in Cactus League games, much less his regular season debut. But considering Yamamoto might be eased back into the rotation and Blake Snell is possibly not going to be ready for Opening Day, the Dodgers figure to slot Ohtani in during their first series of the season.

But as Roberts noted, even with no longer needing to build up in each start, the 31-year-old is going to receive at least five days of rest between starts, and that's expected to apply to Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki as well.

Shohei Ohtani back to 'normal pitcher' in 2026

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