Shohei Ohtani’s Pitching Return: Latest on His Knee, Biceps and Roberts’ Timeline

Shohei Ohtani’s return to the mound is on hold, and the Los Angeles Dodgers are in no rush to change that. The 2026 two-way star has been sidelined from pitching by a nagging left knee and right biceps, and manager Dave Roberts has made clear there is no target date — a wait-and-see situation that carries real weight for a team chasing an unprecedented third straight World Series title.

Key Takeaways

• Ohtani’s pitching is paused after right biceps tightness in early July and lingering left knee inflammation; no return date has been set.
• Roberts says hitting and baserunning don’t aggravate the knee, but the Dodgers won’t put Ohtani back on the mound until both he and the club are fully confident.
• Ohtani returned to pitching in June 2025 after his second right elbow surgery, posting a 2.87 ERA over 14 starts and 47 innings.
• His post-surgery arsenal leans more on the curveball and splitter, easing the strain of an all-out, triple-digit fastball approach.
• The Dodgers are pointing his buildup toward October, aiming to have him available for a postseason run and a bid at a franchise-first three-peat.

Where Ohtani’s Pitching Return Stands Right Now

Ohtani has worked as both the designated hitter and a starting pitcher through the 2026 season. But the two-way workload caught up with him at midseason. In early July, he reported tightness in his right biceps, and a balky left knee soon followed. His pitching has been on pause ever since.

The Dodgers have made avoiding another injury their top priority. The club will not let Ohtani throw off a mound until it is convinced he is fully healthy. As a result, there is no set date for his next start.

Left Knee Inflammation Halts His Bullpen Buildup

As Ohtani kept pitching, the left knee trouble dragged on and a scheduled bullpen session was pushed back. The knee is his landing leg on the mound — the one that absorbs the force of his delivery — so the team’s medical staff signed off on backing him down.

For now, the focus is on letting the knee recover. Ohtani is working through lower-intensity training while the staff monitors the area. Once he reaches a point where he feels confident, the plan is to restart throwing.

Dave Roberts: “Back to Playing Catch, Schedule to Come”

Roberts laid out the state of the plan for reporters. He stressed that hitting and running the bases do not put the knee at risk, but he was cautious about the pitching side.

The manager was firm on the club’s stance: Ohtani will not get back on the mound until he is fully confident in his body and the Dodgers are certain they can give the green light. There is no fixed deadline. The team intends to move step by step, with his physical condition the deciding factor.

From Elbow Surgery to His 2025 Two-Way Comeback

Ohtani underwent a second right elbow surgery — a ligament procedure — in September 2023. In 2024, his first season with the Dodgers, he skipped pitching entirely and rehabbed while playing as a designated hitter.

That “hitting only” year was hardly a step back. Ohtani hit 54 home runs and stole 59 bases, capturing his third career MVP award. For context, no player in MLB history had ever posted a 50-homer, 50-steal season before Ohtani, making his rehab campaign one of the most productive lost years imaginable.

June 2025: Back on the Mound After 663 Days

Ohtani originally aimed to return to pitching after the July 2025 All-Star break, but a smoother-than-expected buildup moved the timeline up to June. On June 16, 2025 (June 17 in Japan), he started against the San Diego Padres batting leadoff and pitching — his first regular-season mound appearance in 663 days, dating back to Aug. 23, 2023, in his Angels days.

His velocity was intact: he touched about 100.2 mph (161 kph) in that first outing. Over the rest of 2025, Ohtani made 14 starts, throwing 47 innings with a 1-1 record, a 2.87 ERA and 62 strikeouts as he eased back into a starter’s role.

How Ohtani Has Reinvented Himself as a Pitcher

Coming back from a second elbow surgery, Ohtani has reshaped his approach on the mound — partly to protect his arm, partly to keep hitters guessing. The days of leaning almost entirely on a high-octane four-seamer are fading.

More Curveballs, More Splitters

His pitch mix has shifted. Before the surgery, Ohtani leaned heavily at times on his sweeper — a slider with big horizontal break. Since returning, he has thrown more curveballs to change hitters’ timing and turned to the splitter (a split-finger fastball) as a go-to put-away pitch.

He now varies the curveball’s speed and drop to disrupt timing, widening his sequencing options, while using the splitter with sharp command in both count-leverage and two-strike spots.

Trading Pure Power for Efficient Pitching

The revamped arsenal is seen as a way to spread the strain off his right elbow and reduce the risk of another breakdown. Instead of overpowering hitters with four-seamers north of 100 mph, Ohtani is increasingly mixing speeds and locations to miss barrels.

By recording outs with fewer pitches, he keeps his per-game workload down. That efficiency is what makes it possible to hold up across a full season while still playing every day as the DH.

The Balancing Act of a Two-Way Star in His 30s

Now in his 30s, Ohtani faces a stricter conditioning challenge to keep pitching and hitting at the same time. Managing the physical toll — and the injury risk that comes with it — is central to sustaining his performance.

Body Care and Conditioning on Both Sides

Batting nearly every day as the DH while building back up as a starter demands constant maintenance. Ohtani controls his pitching and hitting training loads in close coordination with the Dodgers’ medical and training staff.

That includes recovery programs around his starts, along with sleep and nutrition management. The team also fine-tunes his rest between outings and his workload to hold his performance steady while limiting injury risk over the long season.

A Deep Dodgers Rotation and Ohtani’s Role in It

The Dodgers boast a deep starting staff, led by Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and the club manages rest carefully across the group. To prevent overuse, it has leaned on a flexible approach that includes a six-man rotation — one extra starter compared with the MLB-standard five — to space out its arms.

Within that depth, Ohtani slots in as a starter with at least five days between outings. Being able to secure enough rest by working around the other starters is a key reason he can keep contributing on both sides of the ball.

What’s Next: October and a Shot at History

The Dodgers’ front office is shaping Ohtani’s return around the postseason, which begins in October. Rather than force him back during the regular season, the club is prioritizing his knee and ramping up his pitching workload gradually.

Pointing His Buildup Toward the Postseason

One plausible path to having Ohtani available for October is a short slate of late-season starts with capped innings and pitch counts to sharpen him up. In a win-or-go-home postseason, the team is managing his schedule so he can take the ball when his body allows and the situation calls for it.

Two-Way Titles and a Bid for a Three-Peat

The Dodgers, who won the 2024 and 2025 World Series, are chasing the franchise’s first-ever three-peat in 2026. In a postseason built on rotation depth, having Ohtani available as a pitcher would be a significant boost.

Individually, the stakes are just as high. On top of contending for hitting titles as a DH, a healthy return to pitching would keep alive the prospect of hardware earned on both sides of the ball. Managing his condition — and preserving his two-way form — is the pivot point for both the Dodgers’ three-peat push and Ohtani’s own pursuit of the record books.