Over 53,000 fans were in attendance at Dodger Stadium for Shohei Ohtani’s pitching debut after his recovery from a torn ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) in his right elbow. Although he only pitched for one inning, he threw 28 pitches with 16 of those counting as strikes. He allowed one earned run which bloated his earned run average (ERA) to 9.0 but showed flashes of his 2023 pitching season by throwing 100 miles per hour on his fastball.

While his pitching was short and may have left more to be desired, Ohtani’s still batted the entire game, getting two hits out of four at-bats and earning two runs-batted-in (RBIs). The Dodgers won the game 6-3, garnering 10 hits while the Padres only had six.

Ohtani’s pitching arsenal in 2023, which was the last time he pitched, composed of a four-seam fastball with an average velocity of 96.8 mph, a sweeper, sinker, cutter, split finger and a curveball. His 2025 debut against the Padres had a four-seam fastball with an average velocity of 99.1 mph, a sweeper, sinker and a split finger according to Baseball Savant.

Ohtani tore his UCL on Aug. 23, 2023, against the Cincinatti Reds when he pitched for the Anaheim Angels. He went through an MRI exam the same day that confirmed the tear of the UCL in his right elbow. He was a favorite to win the American League MVP and would become a free agent at the end of the 2023 season because his contract with Anaheim had come to an end. In December of the same year, the Los Angeles Dodgers signed him for $700 million on a 10-year contract. Although this was a big signing for LA, Ohtani’s contract has deferrals meaning that he will be paid $2 million a year and will be fully paid the remaining $680 million once his 10-year contract has concluded.

While Ohtani did not pitch for the Dodgers during the 2024 season, he was able to earn himself an MLB World Series Championship for the first time in his career. He also put up a statistic of 50+ homeruns and 50+ stolen bases in a single season. With the 2025 season in full swing for the Dodgers and at the top of their division, they look to win back-to-back World Series titles.

Kristian Hernandez is the sports editor for The Prospector and may be reached at [email protected] and Instagram @northeastvideography.