Shohei Ohtani's pitching in Spring Training inspires confidence in Dodgers manager

When the Los Angeles Dodgers set their roster for Opening Day, Shohei Ohtani will not be part of the starting pitching rotation. He's still recovering from Tommy John surgery he underwent at the end of 2023 and isn't expected to be able to pitch until May or so.

Despite that, he has been working his way up to a return to the mound. He threw some last year, and he's thrown during Spring Training as he continues to stretch his arm out to MLB-level pitching workloads.

The latest pitching outing Ohtani had must've been good because Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was surprised by how quickly he's progressed. Via USA Today, he said:

“Yes, given who the player is and who the person is, but there’s still a process that we are going through. He just understands that we’ve got a long season to go, so he’s sort of bought into whatever we need from him. But very surprised how quick it’s gone and seeing this is great."

The Dodgers will want to be very cautious with Ohtani's return, and they may opt for a six-man rotation this season. Ohtani is signed to a $700 million deal largely because of his ability to pitch and hit, so LA isn't going to jeopardize one-half of his skillset by rushing him back.

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Dave Roberts loved seeing Shohei Ohtani followed by Roki Sasaki

Shohei Ohtani wasn't the only Japanese star to throw, though. Roki Sasaki, his Japanese teammate from the World Baseball Classic, also followed up with a brilliant bullpen. It all left Roberts very pleased.

Shohei Ohtani inspired Dave Roberts with his session (Imagn)

He added, via USA Today:

“To start our day watching Shohei throwing a professional bullpen, to come out of it feeling great. Then you go on the back field and see Rōki go three innings and do what he did. … Today, overall, was a really good day for us."

Blake Snell, a two-time Cy Young winner, is also on the staff, and he said he was disappointed he didn't get to attend and physically watch the two phenoms work. He believes "the talent is there" for the Dodgers to have a great rotation either way.