Three reasons why Shohei Ohtani is exciting after his return to pitching

All eyes are on Shohei Ohtani's Dodgers pitching debut.

While the stats aren't much to boast about — throwing a round as an opening pitcher doesn't say much — every baseball fan should be excited about this start.

Why? He's as sharp as ever.

Admittedly, Ohtani may have possession issues to solve; Admittedly, he probably didn't deliver the strikeouts. Doesn't matter. Ohtani's game looks sharp against the Padres, which is even more crucial for those who have been away from Pitcher Hill for two years.

Here are the top three takeaways from Otani's pitcher's return after a long absence.

1) The speed of the ball does not decrease but increases
When a pitcher comes back from elbow surgery, you expect ball speed to drop. But Ohtani's ball is soaring.

Its ball speed has increased by 2-3 miles from before the injury in 2023.

The speedball even soared into triple digits. Ohtani's 100.2-mile four-seam speedball against Luis Arraez was his first 100-mile break since Aug. 3, 2023.

When detached from the adrenaline effects of the first two games, the spheroids may cool slightly. But even adrenaline can't get most pitchers to whip up a 100-mile fireball.

Ohtani is now one of only five Dodgers starters to reach a three-digit ball speed in more than a decade in the Statcast era (alongside Roki Sasaki, Bobby Miller, Dustin May, and Walker Buehler).

Ohtani was expected to reach a ball speed of 95-96 mph, but the actual average speed was 99 and a top speed of 100. If this growth rate is sustainable, it will significantly change its speedball effectiveness.

Look at the two four-seam speedballs on Monday night: he sent heavy artillery superstar Fernando Tatis Jr. into the middle of the 98.3-mile fastball, and contact superstar Alez, who almost never swings at the speedball, to the 98.6-mile speedball.

In short: 100 miles is good.

2) Shoot more sharp balls
Ohtani is expected to use more stretch balls this season. This type of ball will make it more balanced with the ball.

The Reach Ball prevents the player from locking onto the four-seam speedball and pairs perfectly with the slider – as both lanes are displaced in opposite directions.

Otani averaged 97.4 miles of speed, 25 inches of vertical displacement and 15 inches of horizontal displacement on the side of his arm. The same as its 2023 displacement ... But the speed of the ball increased by almost a full three miles.

The vertical displacement is particularly prominent, as it is often difficult for a ball with such a speed to fall like this. Only a handful of high-speed stretch pitchers like Paul Skenes and the Angels' José Soriano can produce a sink similar to Ohtani's.

Ohtani threw a couple of top-notch stretches to the Padres: 97.4-mile and 98.8-mile inside corner shots, leaving Alez and Gavin Sheets standing for strikeouts, respectively.

The usage rate of the whole game reached 29%, compared to only 6% in 2023.

3) The slider displacement is still sharp
As Otani progressed through his career, Otani became his most popular ball, and for good reason: he was a brilliant thrower, perhaps the league's best skate.

Between 2022 and 2023, Ohtani made 153 strikeouts with a slideball, the most pitchers in the league. Despite missing a strikeout in his 2025 pitching debut, the sharp nature of the slider remains.

The Otani slider has an average speed of 86.6 miles against the Padres and a horizontal displacement of 12 inches — closer to the 2022 version (85.3 miles and 14 inches of displacement on average): high speed and sharp displacement. (Its 2023 slider is slightly more "lateral": 83.7 miles averaging 16 inches.) However, the speed of the slider is usually more effective, even if the displacement is slightly reduced.

Ohtani skateball is significantly faster than the league average without sacrificing sharp movement.

Last night's slider was a slightly slower (84.2 miles) and still 2 miles faster than the league average. He was supposed to strike Manny Machado with an 88.4-mile tricky slide, but the referee ruled Machado had the batter.