Los Angeles Dodgers two-way star Shohei Ohtani is back on the mound at Angel Stadium for the first time since Aug. 23, 2023 — the night his season ended with a torn UCL that led to his second Tommy John surgery. This time, he’s wearing Dodger blue, and for the first time in his career, he’s pitching against his former team.
It’s been 714 days since Ohtani last threw a competitive pitch here. That game was supposed to be just another late-summer start in a second MVP campaign. Instead, it became a turning point — surgery, an entire 2024 season spent as a hitter-only, and an offseason that saw him sign a record-shattering 10-year, $700 million deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
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Now, the Dodgers need him as much as ever. Los Angeles has dropped three straight, including the first two games of this Freeway Series, and watched a nine-game NL West lead vanish. They enter Wednesday night tied with the surging San Diego Padres for first place.
Ohtani, meanwhile, is riding a personal hot streak — both at the plate and on the mound. He’s homered in four straight games, leads the NL with 43 bombs, and comes off his best pitching performance of the year: four innings, eight strikeouts, one run allowed against the Cardinals. Manager Dave Roberts says it’ll be another four-inning cap tonight as Ohtani builds up post-surgery.
Los Angeles Dodgers vs Los Angeles Angels: Angels Vs. Shohei Ohtani
But while the innings limit is temporary, one thing isn’t — his stuff looks completely different from his Angels days. MLB.com’s David Adler broke down three major changes to Ohtani’s repertoire:
1) The Fastball Has Hit a New Gear
Ohtani’s four-seamer is averaging a career-high 98.2 mph — nearly a full tick above his previous best (97.3 in 2022). Coming off elbow surgery, that’s almost unheard of. According to Adler, he’s throwing 61% of his heaters at 98 mph or faster, 31% at 99+, and 10% at 100+, all career-high rates and double what he’s done in past seasons.
2) The Splitter Has Nearly Vanished
Once considered one of baseball’s nastiest pitches — 78 strikeouts on it in 2021 alone — the splitter is now an occasional weapon. Ohtani is throwing it less than 4% of the time, mostly to lefties. The Dodgers have altered its movement, adding horizontal run to a pitch that used to be all vertical drop. That new shape works against opposite-handed hitters but can leak into right-handed bats.
3) The Slider Is His New Out Pitch
Replacing the splitter is a tighter, harder slider — not his sweeping breaking ball from recent years, but a true high-80s slider with sharper break. He only began sprinkling it in late in 2022, but this season he’s using it 11% of the time. Adler notes that it’s generating a ridiculous 58% whiff rate, with nine strikeouts — more than any other pitch in his arsenal.
All of that sets the stage for a unique reunion. Ohtani will be facing Mike Trout for the first time since the 2023 World Baseball Classic championship, when he froze his Angels teammate with a full-count slider to seal Japan’s win.
The Angels — still under .500 — have nonetheless won all five meetings with the Dodgers this year and can complete a season sweep tonight. Kyle Hendricks (6-8, 4.63 ERA) starts for Anaheim.
For Ohtani, the return to his old mound is about more than nostalgia. The Dodgers are slumping, the division is up for grabs, and his reinvented repertoire will get its first real test against the hitters who know him best.
First pitch: 6:38 p.m. PST on MLB.TV and MLB Network.