New Shohei Ohtani Rumors Update Buzz on Dodgers Star's Usage as Hitter, Pitcher
To the extent that Shohei Ohtani can be said to be in a slump, the four-time MVP is in the midst of his first trying period as a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Per Sports Illustrated's Tom Verducci, at least one Dodgers person thinks Ohtani is currently slumping at the plate in part because of how much he is exerting himself when he is pitching.
"I think so," a Dodgers source told Verducci. "But [we're] just trying to respect the amount of effort he expends in his current role. To find a spot here and there to give him a slight breather seems like a smart thing to do from a longevity standpoint."
Verducci noted that Dodgers officials trust Ohtani to "know himself and his capacity to work," but the club also has "a say" in terms of how he "expends his massive but not unlimited energy reserve."
This season marks the first time since 2023 that Ohtani is back to pitching full-time, in addition to his usual work as a DH. He returned to the mound late last season after undergoing elbow surgery late in the 2023 campaign when he was still playing for the Los Angeles Angels.
Ohtani's pitching has been nothing short of incredible so far. The right-hander leads MLB with a 0.97 ERA and 42 strikeouts in 37.0 innings over six starts. He's only 10 innings away from matching his total from the 2025 regular season.
It would be incorrect to say Ohtani is having a bad year at the plate. He's hitting .240/.382/.432 in 158 plate appearances, but his 125 wRC+ is on pace to be his worst over a 162-game season since 2019.
Ohtani is in the midst of a five-game hitless streak (0-for-17), his longest such streak since May 2022. The Dodgers have also not put him in the lineup as a hitter for his last two starts, including on Tuesday night when he allowed two runs over seven innings in a 2-1 loss to the Houston Astros.
There's nothing in Ohtani's advanced metrics to suggest anything is physically wrong. His average exit velocity and barrel rate both rank in the 95th percentile, while his expected weighted on-base average is .394 and expected slugging percentage is .511, per Baseball Savant.
Ohtani's struggles at the plate are also getting magnified because the Dodgers have hit a rough patch. They have lost 10 of their last 17 games after starting the season 15-4.
It's hard to completely panic about Ohtani, both because it's still early in the season and his dominance on the mound means he's remains incredibly valuable while the Dodgers wait for his bat to come back to life.
