For the 2024 season, Shohei Ohtani is restricted to being purely a designated hitter. The Japanese sensation was a two-way player, the only real one in baseball, before suffering through a second Tommy John surgery. He can’t get on the mound this year, but that hasn’t stopped him from working towards a return in the future.
While he’s playing games as the DH and hitting as well as anyone in baseball, he’s spending some of his pre-game warmup time throwing the ball with an eye on a return to the mound.
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Ohtani’s latest feats involve going through his windup out in the outfield before delivering a strike all the way across the field. The video only shows one clip, but it’s not the first time Ohtani has been seen throwing the ball and working on his pitching for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The team paid him $700 million across a decade because he, unlike really anyone in baseball history, can hit and pitch at an elite level. They knew he would be restricted to one in 2024, but he’s clearly putting in the effort to make sure he can do both in 2025 and beyond.
Shohei Ohtani’s hitting restriction leading to career year
For many young players, it’s not sustainable to even try to hit and pitch. Shohei Ohtani struggled to stay healthy by doing both for a little while, but he mastered it. The slugger morphed into one of the few best hitters in baseball and was a legitimate top-of-the-rotation pitcher, too.
Shohei Ohtani is hitting very well while not pitching (Imagn)
The setback caused by his Tommy John surgery seems to have only made him a better hitter. He’s on his way to possibly being the first-ever primary DH to win an MVP award. That is partly due to some injuries on the behalf of the most popular other contenders, but regardless, he’s hitting exceptionally well.
Ohtani is currently hitting at 175 wRC+, second only to his 2023 metric. He has been above that line plenty this season. His 22.5% K rate would be a career-best. So would his .445 xwOBA. His 5.6 fWAR is just 0.9 away from his best mark as a hitter as well.
