PHOENIX — Despite not having thrown a single pitch since August 2023 due to a second major elbow ligament reconstruction, Shohei Ohtani already is qualified for two-way player status, a league official told The Athletic.
A two-way player designation allows a position player who also pitches to occupy just one roster spot. In other words, they don’t count against the 13-pitcher roster limit. Ohtani’s status has caused at least some confusion, particularly due to a change last month in the language on the league’s website. But, the official said, Ohtani’s designation is based on a tweak to the rule made after the 2023 season, not recently.
The original version of the rule, first implemented ahead of the 2020 season, stipulated that a player could gain two-way player status only if he reached specific thresholds in the current or previous season. The required thresholds are 20 major league innings and 20 starts as a position player or designated hitter, with a minimum of three plate appearances in each game.
That language was adjusted temporarily for 2021 after COVID-19 shortened the 2020 season to 60 games, allowing players to still qualify if they reached those thresholds in either of the last two seasons. The new change, implemented ahead of the 2024 season, effectively made that tweak permanent.
So Ohtani, who threw 132 innings while serving as the Angels’ primary designated hitter in 2023, qualifies immediately despite missing all of his first season with the Dodgers as a pitcher due to his rehab from surgery.
Thus, Ohtani’s advantage to the Dodgers will come from more than just what he provides in his starts: He’ll essentially give Los Angeles an extra arm immediately from the moment he joins the rotation.
The Dodgers will run a six-man rotation this season in part to accommodate its bevy of starters, even before Ohtani makes his return at some point in May or potentially sooner. The organization, trying to keep their high-ceiling starters as healthy as possible, is committing to a six-man rotation full-time after relying on a quasi-six-man rotation off and on through various parts of recent years. That leaves them, at least temporarily, with just a seven-man bullpen to fit under the 13-pitcher limit.
The decision is partly a matter of comfort, with Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto accustomed to pitching essentially once a week dating back to their time in Japan. It also factored prominently, the Dodgers believe, into their ability to land phenom Roki Sasaki this winter — like his countrymen, Sasaki is used to pitching on a once-per-week schedule.
Roberts and his staff are already trying to configure how they’ll have to manage their shortened bullpen in April without Ohtani — but it’s a short-term problem that will come with a longer-term payoff.
“Until Shohei gets back, you’re having to battle the lack of build-up in that time of year versus having a shorter pen,” Roberts said. “So how do you middle it, combat that, prepare, guard against a short outing, anything like that? We got time but we’ve got a lot of good arms, too.”
The Dodgers were not the only team to try to pitch Sasaki with a six-man rotation. But with Ohtani designated as a two-way player, along with a list of starters a dozen names long, no other team is built to implement it quite like Los Angeles.
(Photo: Chris Coduto / Getty Images)
