Shohei Ohtani’s season is splitting in two.
On the mound, the Dodgers’ two-way star has been virtually untouchable — a 0.60 ERA through 30 innings with no home runs allowed, opponents batting just .160 against him and posting a combined .226 slugging percentage and .464 OPS, numbers that rank among the very best in Major League Baseball. That dominance has Ohtani in serious Cy Young consideration if he can remain healthy and reach starter-type workloads this year.
At the plate, however, Ohtani is struggling. The right-handed hitter owns a .240 batting average and an .814 OPS, figures that sit well below his usual standards (54th and 103rd among qualified hitters, respectively). He has six home runs, a total surpassed by 37 other players, has produced a career-low line-drive rate, and is hitless in his last 17 at-bats, with only one long ball since April 12. The contrast between his pitching brilliance and offensive drought has forced the Dodgers into more active management of his two-way role.
Manager Dave Roberts confirmed a change in plans Monday, saying Ohtani — who had been penciled into the lineup as a hitter for Tuesday’s game against the Houston Astros — would not bat after Roberts watched him struggle at the plate. “Just kind of seeing how things are going… I think it's best for everyone,” Roberts told reporters, explaining the decision was influenced more by body language than raw results. Tuesday will mark the third time in four of Ohtani’s recent pitching starts that he has been withheld from hitting.
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Front-office voices have echoed that approach. Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman told AM 570 LA Sports last weekend that it “doesn’t make sense for him to go wire-to-wire [as both a] pitcher and hitter, playing every day and pitching every week,” and Roberts said the club has already sat Ohtani a couple of times on days he pitches as part of workload management. General manager Brandon Gomes has also been involved in shaping that more interventionist plan, a contrast with Ohtani’s time in Anaheim when the player had greater control over his own schedule.
Ohtani himself has publicly deferred to the team’s judgment. Speaking through interpreter Will Ireton after his most recent start, he said: “I’m always going to respect the decision, regardless of if I’m pitching or doing both… I think it’s really important that the team makes the decision about what's good for the team.” He has limited availability to the media — speaking only after he pitches — and has offered little indication whether he prefers to hit on his pitching days.
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The Dodgers’ priorities are clear: preserve Ohtani’s health for the stretch run and October, even if that means temporarily diminishing the unique two-way role that has defined his career. That trade-off comes as Ohtani chases a season on the mound that could be historically significant while simultaneously working through one of the slowest offensive starts of his career. How the club balances those competing agendas — and whether they reintroduce routine two-way games ahead of the postseason — will shape both his individual milestones and Los Angeles’ championship hopes.
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