SAN ANTONIO — Shohei Ohtani underwent arthroscopic surgical procedure to restore a torn labrum in his left shoulder, the Dodgers introduced on Tuesday. The crew expects him to be prepared in time for Spring Coaching, although it’s unclear how the rehab will have an effect on his timeline to return to the mound.
Ohtani sustained the damage, which was to his non-throwing shoulder, on an tried steal of second base throughout Sport 2 of the World Collection. The Dodgers initially described the damage as a subluxation, or a partial dislocation. The process to restore the ensuing labrum tear was carried out by Dr. Neal ElAttrache in Los Angeles.
Regardless of the damage, Ohtani was within the lineup for Video games 3-5 of the World Collection and went 1-for-11 with a stroll and a run scored. He appeared uncomfortable whereas swinging at instances and supported his left shoulder by holding onto his jersey.
On the time, Ohtani mentioned the damage didn’t impression his swing a lot as a result of his left shoulder was harm somewhat than his proper one. Normal supervisor Brandon Gomes reiterated that on Wednesday on the Normal Managers Conferences, noting that it pointed to a greater prognosis for the Dodgers’ celebrity.
“Particularly as a result of that will have been [his] throwing shoulder if it was lead shoulder,” Gomes mentioned. “I feel the truth that it was again shoulder, non-throwing arm and again arm for swinging, it is simply far much less of a priority of how violent any of that will be versus if it have been the opposite one.”
Whereas the crew shouldn’t be involved that this damage will have an effect on Ohtani’s long-term future as a pitcher, Gomes mentioned the truth that he is additionally a hitter complicates the general restoration course of. It is potential that Ohtani is not going to be accessible to pitch when the Dodgers open the 2025 season towards the Cubs in Tokyo.
“I feel there’s lots of questions there of creating certain that he’s in a superb place,” Gomes mentioned. “I don’t need to speculate on any of that. We’re simply [keeping the] massive image in thoughts and ensuring that, working backwards, [we’re doing] what places us in the very best place for him to be taking down innings in October. And nonetheless that falls out, we’ll be proud of.”
A World Collection ring capped an exceptional yr for Ohtani, who put collectively an unprecedented power-speed season by changing into the founding member of the 50-50 membership, ending the yr with 54 homers and 59 stolen bases. He is the clear favourite to take dwelling his third MVP Award — his first within the Nationwide League — in his first season since becoming a member of the Dodgers on a record-setting 10-year, $700 million contract.
His eventual return to the mound will give Ohtani the prospect to reestablish himself as a two-way celebrity. The 30-year-old right-hander spent 2024 rehabbing from his second proper UCL restore process and didn’t pitch all season. He went 10-5 with a 3.14 ERA throughout 23 begins when he final appeared as a pitcher with the Angels in ’23.
Whereas he recovers from his shoulder surgical procedure, Ohtani might be shut down from throwing, one thing Gomes mentioned he possible would have accomplished regardless earlier than starting an offseason throwing program. That timeline might be pushed again additional, which may harm his probabilities of opening the season within the rotation.
“We do not know what the rehab course of will result in,” Gomes mentioned. “I can not speculate on that any additional. However [Yoshinobu] Yamamoto, [Tyler] Glasnow, [Tony] Gonsolin, [Dustin] Could after which now we have a bunch of our youthful guys which have contributed. We’ll see how all that performs out and if there are any acquisitions within the offseason, which we’ll be definitely trying intently at.”
Given the accidents that ravaged the Dodgers’ rotation in 2024, and the ensuing innings limits that their returning starters ought to have in ’25, the crew may take into account rolling out a six-man rotation, a minimum of early within the season.
If there was one factor Los Angeles discovered from final season, it was that there is no such thing as a such factor as an excessive amount of beginning depth, indicating that the crew is not going to solely depend on getting more healthy to bolster the rotation.
“We went into the season, I feel, with 12 pitchers final yr,” Gomes mentioned, “and that wasn’t sufficient. So we’ll be exploring the pitching market, for certain.”
