Shohei Ohtani Has Returned to the Pitchers' Mound, but Why Did He Stop?

When Shohei Ohtani first emerged as one of the biggest stars in the MLB, one of the things that made him so compelling was the fact that he could pitch and hit at an incredibly high level. During the Dodgers' run to the World Series last year, though, Shohei didn't take to the mound at all.

Now, Shohei has returned to pitching for the team, which led some to wonder why he stepped away to begin with. Here's what we know about why the all-star took a break from pitching.

Shohei stopped pitching before he signed with the Dodgers, and the reason for his pitching drought was his second Tommy John surgery. The surgery is done to repair a torn UCL in the elbow, which is a common injury for pitchers. Basically, then, Shohei was injured, and he took the entirety of last season off to recover from the surgery and make sure that his arm was fully healed before he started pitching again.

According to reporting in USA Today, the plan to get Shohei back on the mound came together quickly. The Dodgers had said that Shohei would pitch at some point during the team's series against the San Diego Padres, and announced just 24 hours beforehand that he would be starting against the team on June 15. Reporting also suggested that Shohei would just pitch one inning during the game as the team ramps him back up so that he can manage a fuller workload during the postseason.

“We'll see how it responds, and we're still gathering information. I think that going forward, it'll be helpful to what decisions we have," manager Dave Roberts explained. While he's unlikely to pitch every five days, Shohei will be on the mound more this season and moving forward, proving that he can contribute to the success of his team in any number of ways. Even so, the team will be monitoring his injury closely as they go.

"We're going to still be cautious going forward with, obviously, his value and importance to the organization, and most importantly, his health too,” Roberts explained.

Shohei is coming off of winning MVP for the Dodgers in 2024, his third time winning the award.

At the same time, though, pitching is part of what Shohei was brought onto the team to do, and the Dodgers definitely want him doing more of it.

“We signed him to be a two-way player,” general manager Brandon Gomes said. “He's very much of the mindset that he wants to do that for a very long time."

Two-way players are increasingly rare in the modern MLB, which is part of what makes Shohei so fascinating to watch.

Hopefully, he can continue ramping up his pitching to the point where, when the Dodgers are in the playoffs, he can contribute on both sides of the mound. That would make for some truly riveting playoff games.