Shohei Ohtani met with journalists (including Alden Gonzalez d’Espn and the Fabian Ardaya of athletics) during the Dodgers Fanfest event today, and provided an update at the time he could do his Back to a large league mound. Ohtani underwent surgery linked to the UCL in September 2023 which prevented him from launching in 2024, and his recovery struck another hook when he underwent arthroscopic surgery on his left shoulder (non-launch) after The World Series. Through he described this last procedure as “complicated“, Ohtani said that his rehabilitation was”fairly smooth“, With everything that takes place”on time. “”
A clearer chronology will emerge once Ohtani is starting to launch sessions of enclosure of the lifts during training in the spring. When asked if Ohtani could return to pitch in May, the Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said that the fluid projection “It just seems. “A return to May would mark about 21 months between the throws of the major league for Ohtani, whose last match as a launcher came on August 23, 2023 when he was still a member of the Angels.
There was no suggestion that Ohtani’s pitching rehabilitation will interfere with his preparation work as a striker, so Ohtani should take his usual place as a designated dodgers’s designer while he finished the final rameau when he started in Los Angeles Rotation. Trying to manage the two at the same time will naturally present a challenge for Ohtani, but it is nothing that he has not already faced in his unique career as a bidirectional star. Ohtani did not launch in 2019 due to Tommy John surgery and he only launched 1 2/3 innings in 2020 due to flexor tension in his right elbow.
Needless to say, dodgers will be as cautious as possible in the management of ohtani rehabilitation, because the worst case would be a setback on the pitching side which also requires Ohtani to miss time in programming. While the more will be known once Ohtani really begins its training of the enclosure of the lifts, holding it until May seems to be a fair cover for the moment, because it will give both to the launcher and the team Lots of time to assess the final stages of its UCL and shoulder procedures.
Los Angeles are already expected to deploy a rotation of six people in 2025, to welcome not only Ohtani, but several other launchers returning from significant injuries. A rotation of six men is also closer to the pitching calendar once a week observed by the NPB teams, so it could help Yoshinobu yamamoto And now Sasaki Roki Better adjust to pitch in the majors. The dodgers were taken care of both on starting and pitching for help to have as much depth as possible, giving the team an embarrassment of wealth if everyone is healthy.
The complete supplement of rotation candidates includes Ohtani, Yamamoto, Sasaki, Blake Snell,, Tyler Glasnow,, Dustin canAnd Tony Gonsolinmore Clayton Kershaw should re-sign with it at some point. Bobby Miller,, Justin Wrobleski,, Landon Talle And Ben Casparius are also at hand as other depth options in minors. If that was not enough, Tanner Scott And Kirby Yates were both signed to strengthen the enclosure of already strong lifts.
If it did not seem that Ohtani could do more after his 50-50 season (or officially, a season of 54-59) and a World Series championship in 2024, return to his old form as a launcher would be a reminder properly amazing . Ohtani has an MPM of 3.01 out of 481 2/3 career rounds as a starter in large leagues, as well as a 31.2% withdrawal rate and a walking rate of 8.9%.