After going 663 days without throwing a pitch in the major leagues, Shohei Ohtani opened Monday’s Los Angeles Dodgers game against the San Diego Padres at Dodger Stadium with a 98-m.p.h. strike.
Ohtani’s first start since Aug. 23, 2023, and first in Dodger blue, wasn’t entirely successful. The right-hander gave up one run on two hits over a single inning of work. But the process was promising.
His 28–pitch return was brief; however, this was to be expected considering Ohtani’s non-traditional ramp up of simulated games against hitters within the Dodgers organization concluded with a three-inning, sub-50-pitch outing at Petco Park on June 10.
Going nearly two years without doing anything is a long time, let alone firing high-90s fastballs and elite secondary offerings with pinpoint accuracy against the best competition on the planet. So, after the lengthy absence following Ohtani’s second major elbow surgery since making the move from Nippon Professional Baseball to MLB in 2018, the baseball world was understandably eager to see how the two-way superstar’s stuff would play.
Following the first-pitch sinker, Ohtani threw fastballs on nine of his first 10 offerings, and his velocity gradually escalated until he dialled up 100 m.p.h. with the 10th pitch. That will play.
Ohtani averaged 99.1 m.p.h. with his four-seam fastball and 97.4 m.p.h. with his two-seamer in the outing, both well above his 2023 averages of 96.8 m.p.h. and 94.5 m.p.h., respectively. And every one of his fastballs was above 97 m.p.h. until his final two sinkers of the day came in at 95 m.p.h.
Of note, Ohtani threw nine four-seamers and eight sinkers, a stark contrast to his pitch usage in 2023 when he threw his four-seam 33 per cent of the time compared to six per cent for the two-seam.
The only pitch that Ohtani threw more than his four-seam when he last pitched with the Los Angeles Angels? His sweeper. That continued Monday as he threw his primary breaking ball, that averages over one foot of horizontal movement, 10 times. This is more in line with his previous usage, as the sweeper accounted for 35 per cent of his pitches in his last season on the mound.
Those three pitches accounted for 27 of Ohtani’s 28 — the other was an 0-2 splitter in the dirt to Gavin Sheets. While he didn’t bring out his cutter (16 per cent usage rate) or curveball (4 per cent usage rate), Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters that Ohtani was “using his entire arsenal” after his second live batting practice May 31.
After running the count full, Padres’ leadoff hitter Fernando Tatis Jr. fought off a 99-m.p.h. heater for a bloop single to centre that came off the bat at only 74.6 m.p.h.
Luis Arráez proceeded to work the count full again, but not before Ohtani induced a swing and miss from the man with major league baseball’s lowest whiff rate. But, the most significant criticism that could be levied at Ohtani’s inning of work was his inability to put hitters away, as once again a 3-2 fastball was hit into centre, this time at 95.6 m.p.h., Ohtani’s lone hard-hit ball allowed.
Manny Machado drove in Tatis with a sacrifice fly after his at-bat was extended by a check-swing call that went the Padres way. Ohtani then drew weakly hit groundballs from Sheets and Xander Bogarts to conclude his Dodgers pitching debut.
Ultimately, Ohtani’s stuff and execution was strong despite the inning not going his way. He had three whiffs on 13 swings and 16 of his 28 pitches were strikes. Even more, Ohtani got back the one run the Padres scratched across against him with a 105.2-m.p.h. RBI-double in the bottom of the third inning, nearly 10 m.p.h. harder than any contact San Diego mustered off him.
Ohtani has proven to be one of the league’s most effective starters when healthy, finishing top 10 in both ERA (2.84) and in process-oriented stats like strikeout minus walk rate (23.1) and Stuff+ (117) over the course of his three full seasons pitching in the majors prior to his 2023 elbow surgery.
He has also consistently managed to quell doubts about his ability to produce as a hitter while taking on the additional workload of a pitcher. When he initially shed the “Ohtani rules” prior to the 2021 season, he followed with a unanimous American League MVP season, defined by his dominance both in the box and on the rubber.
Recently, Ohtani has continued to demonstrate an ability to perform in both aspects of the game. He hit a leadoff home run off New York Mets starter Kodai Senga directly after his first time facing live hitters, went yard twice against the New York Yankees one day before his second simulated game and hit the double Monday night. Ohtani leads the National League with 25 home runs.
With 14 major league pitchers and eight starters on the injured list — including impact names like Tyler Glasnow, Blake Snell, Evan Phillips and Brusdar Graterol — the Dodgers staff needs all the help it can get in the immensely competitive National League West.
While there is no confirmation yet of when Ohtani will pitch next, the Dodgers alleviating the stress on their pitchers by adding a top-end starter — without sacrificing an additional roster spot — would be a welcome development for the club.
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