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Alden Gonzalez
multiple authors
PHOENIX – More than 450 media members, fans and other curious spectators lined one of the backfields Los Angeles Dodgers’ Friday morning to get a glimpse of the huge complex shohei ohtani playing catch, then walked over to a spot near the nearby bullpen to watch him throw 27 pitches from a mound with noticeable intensity.
It marked the beginning of something – spring training, yes, but more notably, Ohtani’s return to a full-time two-way role.
Ohtani has completed his first normal, completely healthy offseason since signing with the Dodgers in December 2023. He is returning to full-on starting pitching in the wake of a second elbow surgery. And soon, he’ll begin doing the pitching and hitting work during an entire six-to-seven-month season, with a franchise universally lauded for his ability to get the most out of players. Then again, expectations are ridiculous even for him.
And when the two-time defending champion Dodgers began their first official workout of 2026, two words dominated the conversation: Cy Young. This is one major award that Ohtani has not won. He was asked if this was a goal.
According to an interpreter, Ohtani said, “If in the end, the result is getting a Cy Young, that’s great.” “Getting a Cy Young means being able to pitch more innings and being able to pitch throughout the season, so if that’s the end result, it’s a good sign for me. The thing I’m more focused on is staying healthy all year long.”
Amidst ulnar collateral ligament repair, Ohtani went 34–16 with a 2.84 ERA while Los Angeles Angels From 2021 to 2023. In one of those years, 2022, he finished fourth in the American League Cy Young Award voting.
Last year, making his first pitching appearance with the Dodgers, Ohtani officially returned to the mound in mid-June, slowly built up his pitch count and ultimately posted a 2.87 ERA in 47 innings, striking out 62 batters and issuing just nine walks. He made four starts in the postseason, including one on three days’ rest, and put up a 4.43 ERA that was much worse than the underlying numbers would suggest.
Ohtani called the performance a “really good experience overall” as a two-way player so deep in the season, but added that “he felt the impact of it.”
“In that sense,” Ohtani said, “it’s an experience I plan to hold on to.”
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was impressed with the command displayed by Ohtani after a nearly 21-month pitching hiatus. He was impressed by Ohtani’s sense of breaking pitches, particularly his ability to consistently manipulate them, and indicated additional upside.
“There’s definitely a lot more out there,” Roberts said. “Regardless of my expectations for him, he’s going to exceed that. I think it’s fair to say he expects to be in the Cy Young conversation. But we just want him to stay healthy and get started. All the numbers and stats will take care of themselves.”
Ohtani, who will hit but not pitch for Team Japan in the World Baseball Classic, arrived at the Dodgers’ spring training facility in early February and already held a few bullpen sessions before Camelback Ranch opened to the public. He hopes to begin facing hitters early next week when full-squad workouts begin, putting him on a path to being included in the rotation by Opening Day.
Ohtani is entering his age-31 season with four MVPs in a five-year span, all of them unanimous. His first two seasons with the Dodgers, who landed him a highly-deferred $700 million contract, have seen him charter a 50/50 club, claim two Silver Slugger awards and become back-to-back champions. The range of his accomplishments and the uniqueness of his talent have led many to view him as the greatest baseball player of all time, even though there were many more ahead of him.
However, Ohtani is keeping his publicly stated goals simple.
“Staying healthy all year as a pitcher and hitter,” Ohtani said when asked about his expectations in 2026. “I think it’s good for me, obviously, but also good for the team.”
