In his spring training debut Friday, Shohei Ohtani picked up where he left off in his 50-50 2024 campaign.
The Los Angeles Dodgers star hit a full-count, opposite-field home run in his first at-bat in Arizona, overcoming the lefty-lefty disadvantage to take countryman Yusei Kikuchi into the left field stands. The homer came against his former team, the Los Angeles Angels.
Ohtani is coming off the first 50-homer, 50-stolen base season in MLB history, as well as his first World Series championship and third MVP award. He hit six leadoff homers last year.
This spring training is different than last year’s for Ohtani, though, as he is also preparing to pitch his first innings as a Dodgers. After spending all of 2024 as a designated hitter while rehabbing from major elbow surgery, Ohtani is slated to resume his two-way stardom.
That pitching timeline was complicated in the World Series when he tore the labrum in his left, non-throwing shoulder. After previously being expected to be ready to pitch on Opening Day this year, Ohtani is now slated to start pitching again as early as May. He will not go through a rehab assignment, as the Dodgers do not want to lose his bat in the major-league lineup.
Ohtani threw his first bullpen session earlier this month, sitting at 92-94 mph with his fastball. He has continued to tinker since then, and the Dodgers will welcome him back once he’s ready, especially because it means they will be able to start using a six-man rotation with a unit not known for its persistent health.
However the pitching works out this year, the Dodgers should still have his bat. As he showed all of last year, and again Friday, that is enough to make plenty difference. The Dodgers entered spring training as the clear World Series favorite after an active and expensive offseason, with their payroll sitting around $400 million.
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