Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani had a legendary 2024 season that saw him become the only member of the 50-50 club (50 home runs and 50 stolen bases). What many people forget is that he did this all after having Tommy John Surgery, and is a true ace on the mound when healthy.
The Dodgers signed Ohtani knowing that he would not pitch for them this past season, but that he would join the rotation in the near future.
Will that be at the start of the 2025 season when the Dodgers play the Chicago Cubs in Tokyo, Japan? Manager Dave Roberts gave an update at the MLB Winter Meetings.
“I don’t think the left shoulder is gonna have much of an impact on Shohei’s pitching,” Roberts said at the Winter Meetings in Dallas this week. “I think his right elbow is the biggest factor. I just think the question is when he starts pitching in major league games and how we ramp him up prior to it.”
Shohei Ohtani’s Debut On The Mound Is Coming Soon
It would have been epic for Ohtani to make his Dodgers pitching debut in front of his home crowd in Japan, but Roberts and the Staff do not want to rush anything. He is expected, however, to still be in the lineup as a designated hitter, as he was all last season.
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The team remains confident that his two-way debut will happen in 2025 and still may happen very early on. With him in the lineup, a 5-man rotation could look like this:
- Shohei Ohtani
- Blake Snell
- Yoshinobu Yamamoto
- Tyler Glasnow
- Landon Knack
Dustin May, Tony Gonsolin, and Emmet Shehan are all options for the rotation as well, and there is still the heavy possibility that the Dodgers sign Japanese sensation Roki Sasaki who then most likely slots in ahead of Knack.
After just winning the World Series, with Ohtani on the mound, the Los Angeles Dodgers have the potential to be even better than they were in 2024.