ORLANDO, Fla. — When two-way celebrity Shohei Ohtani introduced his intent to play for Samurai Japan within the 2026 World Baseball Traditional, he didn’t specify whether or not he’ll hit and pitch, as he did within the ’23 version of the event.
No official resolution has been made on the extent of Ohtani’s WBC participation, however Dodgers supervisor Dave Roberts let his desire be identified whereas talking on the Winter Conferences on Monday.
“I am hoping he would not. However I do not know,” Roberts stated. “He is very in tune together with his physique. However I’d say in all probability the thought is he is in all probability simply going to hit.”
Ohtani’s countrymen on the Dodgers, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki, must also be candidates to signify Japan, which begins play in Pool C of the 2026 Traditional on March 6 at Tokyo Dome. The 2 pitchers have but to debate collaborating within the event with the Dodgers, who may have some issues about their involvement.
Because the Dodgers assess their choices to enhance their roster coming off back-to-back World Sequence titles — with an eye fixed on a 3rd in 2026 — the World Baseball Traditional is just not prime of thoughts. However they should determine how they wish to proceed properly earlier than pitchers and catchers report for Spring Coaching in February.
“We have a lot stuff happening proper now that it is in all probability a bit extra on the again burner,” basic supervisor Brandon Gomes stated Monday. “We simply want to sit down down and discuss via it as a company, after which as soon as we get extra data on the gamers, like, have these conversations as properly.”
Representing one’s nation within the World Baseball Traditional is kind of an honor, and maybe even extra so for Ohtani, Yamamoto and Sasaki, who all helped Samurai Japan win gold in 2023. However there should be some issues in terms of the opportunity of any of the three pitching within the event in ’26.
Yamamoto is coming off a 2025 marketing campaign that noticed him throw 173 2/3 regular-season innings and one other 37 1/3 within the postseason — in sum, almost double his workload from ’24, his first large league season. Sasaki spent greater than 4 months of his rookie Main League season on the injured checklist with a proper shoulder impingement.
“I want to assume that it should be a dialogue so far as restrictions and limitations, within the sense of simply making an attempt to provide them the chance,” Roberts stated. “But additionally perceive they’ve come off some stuff, some lengthy seasons, and definitely with Yamamoto and searching for 2026. However proper now, there is no extra readability than we had earlier than.”
Ohtani was the MVP of the 2023 Traditional, hitting .435 with a 1.345 OPS and going 2-0 with a 1.86 ERA on the mound. Memorably, he closed out the title sport towards Crew USA, putting out then-teammate Mike Trout to seal Japan’s victory.
This previous season, Ohtani made his long-awaited return to pitching following a second main surgical procedure on his proper elbow in September 2023. He returned to the large league mound for the primary time in almost two years in June, going 1-1 with a 2.87 ERA in 14 begins (47 innings).
The Dodgers anticipate Ohtani being an everyday beginning pitcher in 2026, though “common” is relative in terms of Ohtani. Roberts and Gomes acknowledged that there could also be instances in between outings when he wants greater than 5 or 6 days of relaxation, and since his two-way participant standing provides the group added roster flexibility, the Dodgers ought to have the ability to accommodate that.
The Dodgers are accustomed to working with an incomplete blueprint in terms of navigating Ohtani’s two-way workload. Due to that, distinctive conditions similar to his rehab from elbow surgical procedure whereas he was nonetheless the Dodgers’ on a regular basis DH required mutual belief and open communication between the 2 events.
The identical is true with Ohtani’s participation within the World Baseball Traditional. Likelihood is that he might solely hit for Japan, but when he strongly appears like pitching within the event would not compromise him in a while within the 12 months, then the Dodgers will hear him out.
“At all times, the pitching aspect of issues is difficult and offers us a bit little bit of pause,” Gomes stated. “However yeah, we’ll clearly proceed to have these conversations and determine it out.”
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