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The Los Angeles Dodgers have had an offseason of uncertainty for their pitching roster.
With some problems better than others — like too many starting-caliber pitchers for the rotation — a more recent development has been the status of National League MVP Shohei Ohtani making his return to the mound.
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L.A. recently halted Ohtani’s throwing progressoin as the slugger still needs to ramp up ahead of his role as the team’s designated hitter. The original timeline to see Ohtani make his pitching debut as a Dodger was May, but that date is no longer confirmed.
Roberts did clarify that Ohtani is still throwing the ball, but doesn’t know when the next proper bullpen will be.
“He’s been throwing. He hasn’t stopped throwing. But I don’t know when he’s going to throw his next bullpen,” Roberts said. “He understood the process. He’s ramped up with the hitting and to let that (pitching) part of the process slow down and not intensify both things, he was on board.”
As the Dodgers currently have an influx of talented pitchers, it is the smarter move for the organization to get the three-time MVP ready to face major league pitching — sspecially since Ohtani isn’t just recovering from his 2023 UCL surgery, but a torn labrum suffered in the World Series that required surgery. Thus, it is best for the superstar to focus on one aspect of his game at a time.
And when Ohtani focused on just his hitting last season, the payoff was historic.
He didn’t just win the MVP award, but Ohtani became the first player in MLB history to hit 50 or more home runs and steal 50 or more bases in the same season. Dodgers fans have only seen the first year of a decade-long contract with the generational talent and have yet to see him pitch as well.
As Ohtani keeps making history, he will try and help his team do the same by becoming baseball’s first back-to-back champions in a quarter-century.
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Photo Credit: Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images
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