Just how much is Shohei Ohtani's Two-Way Ability Needed for the Dodgers in 2025?

After watching Shohei Ohtani return to the mound this season for the first time since he last played for the Angels while keeping his batting duties, as a fan, you love to see Shohei be Shohei—the one guy in baseball who can dominate as both a hitter and a pitcher. But considering how well the Dodgers' bullpen was before Ohtani became a part of the rotation, it might be better to suggest that Shohei go back to relieving pitching duties.

Before Shohei Ohtani returned to the mound on June 16th against the San Diego Padres, the Dodgers' pitching rotation was already producing impressive statistics for the season. Being tied with the Chicago Cubs for the third-most wins in the Majors, while racking up the fourth-most strikeouts. Only the Philadelphia Phillies have more total strikeouts in the NL.

Ohtani, in his pitching debut for the Dodgers — a spot start — didn't have a promising outing against the Padres. He let up two hits and a run during his mound debut with the Dodgers. His next start against the Nationals would be a one-inning, 18-pitch outing, but he struck out a pair of batters, throwing 12 strikes.

In the five games that he has pitched so far, Shohei Ohtani has totaled 10 strikeouts and a flat 1.00 ERA while facing 36 batters. Only allowing five hits, one run, two walks, and zero home runs in nine innings combined, in which he pitched this season. His walks plus hits per inning pitched average during these five games is 0.78.

The Dodgers have been gradually working Ohtani back into his pitching duties while keeping him in the batting rotation, in which he's struggled a tad at the plate in those games. They will have him pitch for three innings again tonight against the Minnesota Twins. They are expected to continue this slow progression, with the obvious end goal being that he returns to the two-way form he displayed just down the road in Anaheim some years ago.

Besides the possibility of duty fatigue for Shohei Ohtani, considering that he is still working his way back from Tommy John surgery. Which is the same reason Ohtani had to step away from pitching duties for a season. Even though the Dodgers are working him back on the mound slowly, it still increases the risk of another injury that would require surgery. The more Shohei Ohtani pitches while turning around to bat in each game forward into October, the more likely he is to end up doing so much that he could injure himself. It's not like he's still on a bad team that's low on talent; he is playing on the most talent-rich roster in all of Baseball. It's best that he is given fewer duties to concentrate on for the sake of his health and in-game performance.

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