Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani is once again better than your favorite player. He smashed his MLB-leading 16th home run of the season on Friday. The 30-year-old now sits at .316 with a 1.106 OPS, tacking on 29 RBI and 10 stolen bases. He has won MVP in three of the last four years, with a top-five Cy Young finish (and a second-place MVP finish) mixed in.
It's easy to forget that Ohtani, who spent 2024 exclusively in the DH role for L.A., is still a two-way player. He took his recovery from elbow surgery at a snail's pace — and benefitted immensely from an added focus on hitting last season — but the Dodgers still plan to unleash Ohtani on the mound before the 2025 campaign is out. He took a major step toward his return this weekend.
Ohtani threw 50 pitches in a bullpen session on Saturday, per MLB.com's Andrés Soto. It was simulated at game speed, with Ohtani throwing 25 pitches, taking a 5-to-7 minute break, and then hurling another 25 pitches.
There is still no timeline for his return, but Ohtani is gradually ramping up with plans to pitch this season. The Dodgers' rotation has been decimated by injuries, so Ohtani's return — whenever it comes to pass — will be quite a welcomed development.
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Shohei Ohtani throws 50-pitch bullpen session as pitching rehab ramps up
Ohtani last pitched two seasons ago, when he logged 132.0 innings with a 3.14 ERA and 167 strikeouts. That is what puts Ohtani is a league of his own. He may not be the absolute best hitter in the sport — Aaron Judge has that title on lock right now — but he's awfully close, and he's an elite, ace-level pitcher. Ohtani is just as capable of leading a rotation as he is leading a lineup, something we haven't seen at the big league level since, what, Babe Ruth?
The Dodgers are right to take things slow. Even as the injuries pile up, Los Angeles' offense will win plenty of games. Tyler Glasnow, Blake Snell and Rōki Sasaki are all on the mend right now, but the Dodgers hold a one-game lead over the San Diego Padres in a hotly contested NL West. This Dodgers team is MLB's final boss, an unholy amalgamation of veteran sluggers, ascendent prospects and proven aces. The rotation is beat up, but Yoshinobu Yamamoto is still pitching like a Cy Young candidate and Clayton Kershaw just made his season debut. The Dodgers will be just fine.
Ohtani's primary value is still his bat, which can impact every game, rather than every fifth game. Los Angeles doesn't want to do anything that jeopardizes Ohtani's offensive production. There have been arguments that L.A. should just keep him in the DH role full time moving forward, but that was never realistic. The root appeal of his supermassive, unprecedented $700 million contract — still the largest annual value in American sports history — was his ability to hit and pitch. The Dodgers won't sacrifice half of Ohtani's skill set so early in his career.
Still, making sure Ohtani is 110 percent ready to roll before pushing him back on the mound is the right move. This was his second elbow surgery since arriving in the big leagues and he's no longer a spring chicken at 30 years old. Ohtani's arsenal includes high-90s heater and some vicious breaking balls, so his arm requires careful management.
His return to the mound is inching closer and closer, though. Dave Roberts wants him back for the playoffs.
"I'm trying to temper it, because I know that we're being very methodical with this, clearly," Roberts told reporters. "But yeah, when you see the arm and see what he can do … I put my head in the place of how he can help us right now. But [I'm] trying to be patient."
Patience is a virtue. And for Dodgers fans, that patience will be rewarded in a few short months, from the sound of it.