Shohei Ohtani’s two-way brilliance has already given the Dodgers plenty to celebrate, but one of Japanese baseball’s biggest voices thinks the next move is obvious: leave the mound behind for good.
That view comes from Sadaharu Oh, the Yomiuri Giants icon who owns the world record with 868 home runs across 22 seasons from 1959-80. Oh recently weighed in on Ohtani’s bat and his arm, and through Satoshi Iizuka of Kyodo News, he made his stance clear.
"Personally, I think he should focus solely on batting and challenge himself to see how far he can go," said Oh.
It’s a notable opinion from a figure with that kind of stature, especially given how closely Ohtani’s career has been watched in Japan and across the baseball world. Ohtani grew up idolizing Hall of Famer Ichiro Suzuki, but he was certainly aware of Oh’s place in the sport long before reaching Los Angeles.
The timing of Oh’s comments also lines up with a season that showed both sides of Ohtani’s value - and the strain that comes with trying to do everything. In 2024, his first year with the Dodgers, he put up a 9.0 bWAR and won his third MVP award without pitching at all.
In 2025, he eased back onto the mound and delivered a 2.87 ERA over 47 innings, then added another 20.1 postseason innings with a 4.43 ERA. That season ended with his fourth MVP and third straight.
Then came 2026, when Ohtani opened the year as both a hitter and a pitcher for the first time. He looked every bit like an ace in the first half, posting a 1.79 ERA in 85.2 innings before a nagging knee injury - one he said bothered him more on the mound than at the plate - knocked him out of the rotation for the rest of the season.
At the plate, he was rolling early too. Ohtani hit .293 with a .953 OPS and 22 home runs before the Midsummer Classic, putting himself on track for yet another MVP-level campaign.
But the second half told a different story. While dealing with the knee issue and later revealing a bicep injury, he hit just .245 with eight home runs after the break.
That slide carried into October, where he batted .192 in 26 postseason at-bats.
Ohtani has said earlier this season that he prefers to pitch and hit in the same games. Still, if injuries start piling up again in 2027 - especially if pitching is part of the problem - the Dodgers will have a tough call to make about how far they want to push to protect a bat as central as his.
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