Shohei Ohtani’s “complicated” return from shoulder surgery

The 2025 MLB season will get underway next month with reigning World Series champions LA Dodgers hotly tipped to retain the crown.

The Dodgers won the 2024 championship in the first season with superstar two-way player Shohei Ohtani on a massive $700 million, 10-year contract. He duly contributed a league-leading 54 home runs to help his team to the championship, despite feeling the effects of a shoulder injury.

Last November he underwent arthroscopic surgery to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder, his non-throwing arm. He has returned for the Dodgers' spring training this month but admitted that he is not yet fully recovered.

“I do feel like there’s some discomfort that I have to still overcome, [but] it’s not really debilitating,” Ohtani said via an interpreter in The Los Angeles Times. “Just a limited range of motion. I’ve gone through it with the elbow before. With the shoulder, it’s a little bit more complicated. I do believe that’s the part that I have to be patient with.”

Despite those concerns the 30-year-old is relishing the chance to get back out on the field and could even return to a two-way role this year. For much of 2024 Ohtani was not tasked with pitching in a bid to preserve his fitness. This time around, Ohtani told reporters that he “wants to play as much as possible” but “if the team feels like I should get a break, I’ll follow that.”

Dodgers head coach Dave Roberts was optimistic about Ohtani’s surgery recovery when speaking earlier this week. Roberts even hinted that the return to pitching is progressing as hoped.

“He’s worked really hard, looks really strong and the throwing program hasn’t wavered,” Roberts told reporters. “You just wouldn’t think that there was any surgery this past winter.”

Roberts outlined a new plan that may help Ohtani return to pitching, potentially giving him more rest games during the season. Last year the Japanese star played 159 games for the Dodgers across the regular and postseason action, a figure that he’s unlikely to reach in 2025.

“We haven’t got there yet as far as what he’s comfortable with, what he feels good about,” Roberts explained. “I’m looking forward to those conversations, but it’s obviously going to be a little more complex than it was last year.”

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