Shohei Ohtani injury: Dodgers manager Dave Roberts says shutting down star as a pitcher for the season is 'an option'

It's no longer a given that Shohei Ohtani will pitch again in 2026.

The Los Angeles Dodgers' superstar has been working purely as a designated hitter since July 3 due to a left knee issue that required a lubricant injection during the All-Star break . The team hoped he could return as a pitcher in an abbreviated fashion Sunday, but a bullpen session days earlier didn't go well enough to put Ohtani on the mound .

When asked if there is a deadline to make such a decision, Roberts indicated that the team is in no rush:

"There's no hard timeline because any inning that he gives us is additive, given his roster availability. To say that you could give us one inning or two innings is not valuable, that's not true. The cost is does it affect his health? There's really no timeline, definitive deadline to say, 'Hey, this is when we're going to stop.'"

Like last year, Ohtani's return as a pitcher is complicated by his value to the Dodgers as a hitter. The plan was never for him to go on a rehab assignment, and Roberts indicated that the team has been monitoring whether Ohtani's pitching rehab interferes with his offensive performance:

"I certainly know the value of him pitching. But if you're not 100 percent, there's possibly some bleed-in to the performance offensively. That's just kind of me theorizing. It's his decision, honestly, if he feels like he's capable and then we'll run the play out until it doesn't make any sense."

Ohtani has slashed .269/.344/.538 since his last start as a pitcher, still productive but off the MVP-level pace he has set so far in his Dodgers career.

Roberts' comments came a day after Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said he believes Ohtani will pitch again, via The Athletic's Katie Woo . Friedman did not commit to a timeline, either.

One thing the Dodgers won't be doing is trying Ohtani out as a corner outfielder, a position he played in Japan and in a few late-inning situations for the Los Angeles Angels in 2021. When asked about that idea, Roberts said it was "off the table."

The good news for the Dodgers is they don't need Ohtani pitching to have a formidable postseason rotation. The quartet of Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tarik Skubal, Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow looms as one of the best units in baseball, assuming everyone stays healthy (never a given).

The Dodgers also have a World Series under their belt with Ohtani as a DH only, having triumphed in 2024 despite far larger rotation concerns than they have right now.

The situation also has award implications, as Chicago Cubs star Pete Crow-Armstrong has made an excellent case to win NL MVP with Ohtani delivering value on offense only over the past two months. Of course, there's still nearly all of September to go.