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The story
Nikkan Sports reports that Dodgers two-way star Shohei Ohtani’s return to pitching is set to be pushed back once again. Manager Dave Roberts said Ohtani is “not at 100%,” describing the issue as affecting not just his knee but his entire body. On 5ch, this sparked a wide-ranging, divided discussion — from speculation over whether the real injury is actually his elbow rather than his knee, to Baseball Savant data showing a drop in bat speed, the physical toll of continuing as a two-way player, and even comparisons to Ichiro’s career longevity.
Nikkan Sports [Aug 30, 2026, 3:06 AM]
<Tigers – Dodgers> ◇ Aug 29 (Aug 30 JST) ◇ Comerica Park
Dodgers pitcher Shohei Ohtani (32)’s imminent return to the mound now appears set to be delayed once again.
Source: nikkansports.com / Original article here
What people said
Rushing pushed him way too hard, and Ohtani got fired up and started throwing every single pitch at 160+ km/h (99+ mph).
Makes sense. Somebody fire Rushing already.
And by the way, after that he went on an angry stolen-base spree and wrecked his knee.
I've been saying this for a while now — that it's actually his elbow, not his knee, that's damaged — but I get unfairly dogpiled every time. Maybe I got too close to the truth.
Pretty much every ace-level Japanese pitcher who's gone to the WBC came back injured, effectively ending the peak of their career right there.
He pitched at that level or higher, so there's no way it didn't take a toll. Saying Rushing should be fired is too little too late now. Honestly, seeing how many Japanese fans still back Rushing makes me think something's off with the fanbase too.
Re: #14
I suspect the knee story might just be a smokescreen to hide the elbow injury.
Correction:
*camoufraam*
→ camouflage
Camouflage… yeah, I pointed that out too. Nobody agreed with me though.
The only people saying Ichiro was amazing are old guys who don't know sabermetrics and never even watched the games. His OPS was trash and his stolen-base success rate was low too.
Anyone saying his OPS wasn't high is a clown who only looks at career totals. And enough with the fake news about his low stolen-base success rate.
The more you actually learn about sabermetrics, the more insane Ichiro looks. Pretty sure he was 2nd in WAR for the entire 2000s.
PCA's winning MVP this year. Even with 10 wins, Ohtani hasn't logged enough innings, so it's a non-starter.
Double-digit wins in the majors isn't even worth factoring into the evaluation anymore.
Ohtani's fast-swing rate:
2023: 74.1%
2024: 64.0%
2025: 61.9%
2026: 49.5%
> According to Baseball Savant: "Ohtani's average bat speed has steadily declined from 2023 through this season. His fast-swing rate (the share of all swings at 75 mph / about 120.7 km/h or faster) has dropped sharply."
> His average bat speed has fallen below 75 mph for the first time in four seasons. Ohtani also slumped back in May, when manager Dave Roberts attributed it to a mechanical issue at the time.
[MLB] "Shohei Ohtani Is Struggling" — Fast-Swing Rate and Bat Speed Plunge, Local Media Worried "Time Is Running Out"
https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/2fc4f7f661a5c9b305cc1ee2fc9e2a3f24b2f5e7
That's some interesting data. I saw somewhere that he's been wearing glasses during batting practice this season, so I think declining eyesight might be a factor too.
He doesn't seem able to take those big full swings and crush it like before — feels like he's shifted toward more of a contact-oriented approach.
Back in high school, Ohtani's life plan had him playing until age 40. At this rate, even 5 more years looks shaky.
That's just his dynamic visual acuity declining. Karma for all that mobile gaming, and for somehow reading SLAM DUNK — which was never released digitally — on a tablet screen.
And the end result is his knee got wrecked too.
Re: #85
He's running a different kind of "two-way" gig now — ballplayer and ad spokesman!! Though honestly, crash-dieting in the offseason just for commercial shoots can't be good for the body either.
The great Ohtani's gone "four-way" now, dumbass — can't hit, can't pitch, can't field, can't run.
I feel like Roberts never really goes out of his way to help Ohtani chase titles or MVPs. Last year too, Ohtani was in the middle of a home run race and Roberts just sat him out.
He's had him locked into the leadoff spot the whole time though? Ohtani's racked up more plate appearances than anyone batting first — how exactly is that not helping?
I think Roberts absolutely hates players who go off doing their own thing. He's probably seething inside over Ohtani's repeated baserunning blunders while chasing stats. But if he called it out openly, it'd get reported to the GM and hurt his own job security, so he can't. The teammates have basically given up and just ignore it too. The team vibe seems pretty bad this year.
That donkey (a pun on "Roberts" — roba means donkey in Japanese) doesn't have that kind of authority.
Top-tier players can pull that off, which is probably why they stay great for so long.
Being a two-way player basically means putting your body through 200% the workload — well, maybe more like 150% since he's a DH and not doing it Babe Ruth-style. The Ohtani stans used to say he'd win MVP every single year as a two-way player like it was nothing — hopefully by now they get just how impossible that actually is.
He's not even fat this year. Sure, his stomach looked a little bigger in June, but if anything he's probably shrunk since he can't properly weight-train right now because of the injury.
Background and Key Points of This Discussion
Ohtani has a history of heavy two-way workload, including closing out the final of the 2023 World Baseball Classic, so the elbow-injury theory floated early in the thread is speculation grounded in that history rather than anything the team has officially confirmed. Manager Roberts’ phrase “whole body” describes an issue not limited to one specific part like the knee, which is worth noting since it doesn’t quite line up with readers’ focus on whether it’s the elbow or the knee. Meanwhile, the Baseball Savant fast-swing-rate decline cited in the thread (74.1% in 2023 down to 49.5% in 2026) reflects real reported figures, and while some commenters point to aging or eyesight as factors, there’s no way to pin down the actual cause from this alone. The parallel debates over the toll of continuing as a two-way player, its impact on the MVP race, and sabermetric comparisons with Ichiro — each judged by different criteria — are likely what kept this thread growing so long.
*This article excerpts and summarizes the 5channel (Geisports Sokuho+) thread “[U.S.] Shohei Ohtani’s Pitching Return Reportedly Delayed — Manager Roberts: “Not at 100%. Not Just the Knee, But the Whole Body”.”
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