Shohei Ohtani’s latest pitching session—a 44-pitch, three-inning simulated outing at Petco Park—had Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts talking about timelines in ways he hadn’t before. For the first time, Roberts admitted there’s a “north of zero” chance Ohtani could pitch in a major league game before the All-Star break, a sharp pivot from the club’s long-standing vagueness about his return. Until now, the assumption had been post-break at best, maybe August.
This shift doesn’t happen in a vacuum.
The Dodgers, though leading the NL West at 40-27, are walking a pitching tightrope. They’ve lost eight starters to the injured list, including Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow, Roki Sasaki, and Tony Gonsolin. While Yoshinobu Yamamoto has been excellent, Dustin May and Clayton Kershaw—both coming off lengthy injury recoveries—have pitched more like stopgaps than front-line anchors. The rotation’s 4.66 FIP ranks near the bottom in the National League. The club’s pitching depth, once an asset, has disintegrated into a patchwork.
Are The Los Angeles Dodgers Rushing Ohtani Back Due To The Injury Crisis?
So, is Ohtani’s accelerated ramp-up a response to a rehab that’s going surprisingly well—or a team peeking over the edge of desperation?
The team’s desperation was put on full display when infielder Enrique Hernandez was forced to pitch to save the bullpen amid a blowout loss to the Padres.
There’s a nuance here. Ohtani holds MLB’s rare “two-way player” designation, which allows the Dodgers to reintroduce him on a limited pitch count without disrupting their 13-pitcher roster cap. It’s a luxury not afforded to any other pitcher, and it opens the door for Ohtani to return as a two- or three-inning weapon, rather than a traditional starter.
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But even with that flexibility, the Dodgers are playing a high-stakes game. Ohtani hasn’t pitched since August 2023. He’s recovering from his second UCL procedure. He didn’t throw in the postseason, didn’t build up in spring, and only began facing hitters again in late May. There’s talk he could skip minor league rehab games entirely.
Roberts insists the team is listening to Ohtani, the training staff, and Dr. Neal ElAttrache. “We’re still being very careful,” he said, even while acknowledging the temptation. Ohtani, Roberts noted, “is probably tempted to rip the Band-Aid off.”
Given the state of the rotation, who wouldn’t be?
But just because he can pitch before July doesn’t mean he should. And for a Dodgers team with October ambitions, the bigger question isn’t if Ohtani can return early—it’s whether pushing him back now would cost them later.