A cautious approach: Ohtani’s pitching return takes a…

The Los Angeles Dodgers enjoyed the fruits of Shohei Ohtani’s first season with the team as his offensive output was historic at the plate and on the basepaths.

His efforts ultimately concluded with the Dodgers hoisting a World Series trophy after defeating the New York Yankees.

But in Game 2, he sustained a left shoulder injury while attempting to steal a base. That injury wound up being a tear to his left labrum, which was surgically repaired on Tuesday.

Another downside of this procedure is it pushed his timeline back in regard to his ongoing buildup with his current throwing program, and will keep him off a big league mound to open the year, via Ronald Blum of the Associated Press.

The Los Angeles Dodgers aren’t counting on Shohei Ohtani to pitch at the start of next season and will wait to see how his rehabilitation progresses following shoulder surgery on his non-throwing arm.

The Dodgers aren’t in any rush to have Ohtani on the mound, as his overall health is the most important part. Approaching him with the understanding that the clearest path toward peak production, and buildup is best for the team and their prized star player:

“We’re going to take it piece by piece and get through this and then take it in one-, two-week chunks and make sure that we’re in a really good place on each of those benchmarks and then go from there and not try to say, ‘Hey, we need to be ready by this day,’” general manager Brandon Gomes said Wednesday. “We’re going to let the rehab process play out.”

As long as his process remains unbothered with the rest of his rehab, Ohtani’s availability at the plate won’t be impacted.

The brightest piece to this news is that the injury was to his backside shoulder as he’s a left-handed hitter. Players who have sustained labrum tears to their lead arm have dealt with a drop in power following such injuries.

Best case scenario for Shohei Ohtani

With his workload as a starting pitcher likely to be on a slow ramp up anyways, him being on the mound to start the year isn’t a big deal.

As long as the Dodgers have enough arms to carry the load until he’s ready, his peak mix of innings and feel for the big league mound will come in the prime spots of the season. Many forget, when Ohtani is at his best, he’s one of the best starting pitchers in Major League Baseball, and patience with him is a key factor.