"PHOENIX -- More than 450 media members, fans and other curious onlookers lined up along one of the backfields of the Los Angeles Dodgers' sprawling complex on Friday morning to catch a glimpse of Shohei Ohtani playing catch, then migrated to the space beside a nearby bullpen to watch him throw 27 pitches off a mound with noticeable intensity. It marked the start of something -- of spring training, yes, but, more notably, of Ohtani's return to a full-time two-way role."
"Ohtani has just wrapped his first normal, fully healthy offseason since signing with the Dodgers in December of 2023. He's coming off a return to full-on starting pitching, in the wake of a second elbow surgery. And soon, he'll begin to juggle pitching and hitting over the course of an entire six- to seven-month season with a franchise universally lauded for its ability to extract the most out of players. The expectations, then, are preposterous, even for him."
""If at the end, the result is getting a Cy Young, that's great," Ohtani said, according to an interpreter. "Getting a Cy Young means being able to throw more innings and being able to pitch throughout the whole season, so if that's the end result, that's a good sign for me. What I'm more focused on is just being healthy the whole year.""
More than 450 observers watched Shohei Ohtani during the Dodgers' first workout as he began spring training in a full-time two-way role. Ohtani completed a fully healthy offseason after signing with the Dodgers in December 2023 and is returning to starting pitching following a second elbow surgery. He will balance pitching and hitting over a six- to seven-month season with a franchise known for extracting maximum performance. Ohtani prioritized staying healthy across the year and noted that a Cy Young would reflect the ability to pitch more innings. He went 34-16 with a 2.84 ERA from 2021-2023 and posted a 2.87 ERA in 47 innings for the Dodgers last year.
Read at ESPN.com
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