Shohei Ohtani should be ready to hit when the Los Angeles Dodgers open their season in Japan – but is “very unlikely” to be pitching by March.

“It’s just gonna be too early of a ramp up: there’s an innings limit, a workload management part, to think he’s gonna go wire to wire from Tokyo (in) March through the end of October is hard to imagine without a stoppage in the middle of season,” manager Dave Roberts said Monday at the Winter Meetings.

Superstar Ohtani has not pitched since 2023 after undergoing elbow surgery. Most recently, he underwent a procedure to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder on November 5.

Asked if Ohtani’s recent shoulder surgery had slowed his return to the mound, Dodgers general manager Brandon Gomes responded: “Not that much, seemingly.”

“Early-season games are very important, but we feel like if we can get him to a position where he is peaking toward the end of the season, that is the ideal scenario,” Gomes added, according to MLB.com.

Despite taking a break from pitching while recovering from elbow surgery, Ohtani helped the Dodgers to the best record in the majors before helping LA to its eighth World Series title with just his batting.

This year, the 30-year-old captured the third MVP award of his career and first in the National League after a historic season in which he became the first player in MLB history to have a 50/50 season: hitting 50 home runs and stealing 50 bases in a single campaign.

As the first designated hitter to win MVP honors, Ohtani posted a .310 batting average, stole 59 bases and led the National League with a franchise-record 54 home runs and 130 RBIs.

CNN’s Issy Ronald and Homero de la Fuente contributed reporting.

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