Dave Roberts reveals timeline for Shohei Ohtani’s Dodgers pitching debut

Despite posting one of the most notable offensive performances in baseball history in 2024, Shohei Ohtani was operating at 50% capacity.

He spent the season hitting and rehabbing from elbow surgery to treat a UCL tear, which cut his last season with the Angels short in September 2023. The Los Angeles Dodgers treated him with kid gloves throughout 2024 and never put him on the mound, despite the occasional rumor that he would pitch later into the season or even in October.

MLB would love it if Ohtani was ready to pitch by the Tokyo Series in March, especially if that meant that they'd get an Ohtani-Shōta Imanaga matchup that would inevitably send viewership in Japan even higher than it's already been for Dodgers games. However, he underwent another surgery to repair a torn labrum sustained in the postseason a little over two months ago, and LA would rightfully be loathe to push him before he's absolutely ready.

It's been unclear exactly when that will be, but Dave Roberts told Japanese outlet Hochi News on Sunday that he wasn't going to let Ohtani pitch until May. The skipper said he'll "persuade him with the help of doctors and trainers," which makes it sound like Ohtani is eager to get back on the mound as soon as possible, but it's hard to fault them for continuing to treat him with caution.

Dave Roberts says Dodgers don't have plans to let Shohei Ohtani pitch until May

Although there's no word on Clayton Kershaw's timeline to return from injury (he also has yet to re-sign with the Dodgers after opting out of his contract in 2024), the Dodgers should still be able to start the season with a full rotation, as long as Dustin May is finally healthy again. Although latest word suggests they're still shooting for a six-man rotation to try to mitigate complications for Tyler Glasnow and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, there's still a chance that they'll add Roki Sasaki, and bullpen games managed to work out pretty well for them last year.

Roberts added that the team wants to see him pitch in October, and they're definitely not alone in that. Ohtani had a rather underwhelming postseason, but he dealt with an injury through some of it. 2025 should finally be the year we get to see him operating at full power in the postseason (knock on wood), even if that means pushing his Dodgers pitching debut to May.