Shohei Ohtani, the hitter, doesn’t have much left to prove. His 54/54 season was, of course, monumental, but in some ways he was even better than that the year before, his last with the Angels. Through May 10, he leads the National League in homers (alongside Kyle Schwarber) with 12, and during the Dodgers’ heated match against the Diamondbacks on Friday, he capped off a come-from-behind rally with a three-run shot in the top of the ninth, which won the game for LA.

Ohtani the hitter is at full power, but Ohtani the pitcher is waiting in the wings. He hasn’t pitched in a game since late August 2023 and has undergone two surgeries since then, but he’s been rehabbing slowly throughout the season and the Dodgers expect him to return to the mound sometime after the All-Star break.

The Dodgers are being careful with him, as well they should be, even as their current rotation seems to crumble. Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow are still seemingly weeks away from returning (Snell still hasn’t even started a throwing progression), Roki Sasaki is still struggling with adjusting to the majors, and cracks have started to show in Dustin May. Ohtani is throwing more pitches in bullpens, but has yet to face live hitters.

Ohtani already faces a lot of pressure for a lot of reasons, and he’s proven that it doesn’t get to him as a hitter. However, given the state of the rotation, that pressure is going to be doubled the nearer he gets to full two-way status.

Pressure is mounting for Shohei Ohtani’s long-awaited return to the mound as Dodgers rotation falls apart

The question of whether Ohtani is a better hitter or a pitcher was a popular one before he moved to full-time DH’ing, but there are no promises that he’s going to be the same pitcher when he gets back. His rehab has been totally unique thus far and will continue to be; the Dodgers can’t afford to lose him from the lineup to send him on a rehab assignment as a pitcher, so sim games against his teammates are the best assessment of his readiness they’re going to get.

There’s also, of course, the possibility that the Dodgers delay him even more significantly. They want him to pitch in the postseason, which will necessitate at least a couple months of regular season turns through the rotation, but it can’t be overemphasized how important it is they don’t lose Ohtani the hitter.

As things stand, though, Ohtani will be on the mound relatively soon after the All-Star break. They need him in the rotation and they need him to be good, and both are tall orders.