Shohei Ohtani, next team will have to decide his future on the mound, MLB legend says
Shohei Ohtani is set to become a free agent once the MLB season is over and with high expectations.
Ohtani was expected to set the record for richest contract in league history, but an elbow injury and another procedure tempered those expectations. Ohtani will be able to hit once the 2024 season rolls around but will not be able to pitch until 2025.
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It begs the question whether Ohtani should give up pitching altogether. Hall of Famer Tom Glavine was asked on Wednesday during his appearance on "Don’t @ Me with Dan Dakich" that Ohtani and whichever team that signs him will have a big decision to make on whether he takes the mound again.
"I don’t think there’s any question that as good as he is right now at both of those positions, if he focused on one, he would be even better at that one position," Glavine said. "I don’t think there’s any doubt about that. It’s probably more so on the pitching. It’s really hard, I would think, to do all the things you need to do as a starting pitcher and prepare for your next start and do all those things all the while you’re DH-ing or playing the outfield and hitting four other days a week. It’s just a lot.
"I don’t think there’s any question he would be a better pitcher if he didn’t hit every day, but that’s for him and whoever to decide that if he focuses on one thing which one is he gonna be A, better at and B, more valuable to his team."
The former Atlanta Braves star said Ohtani would have likely had the richest contract in baseball history if it was not for the elbow injury.
"Now, that’s one of those conversations," Glavine said. "You might have a team that’s willing to go after him but say, ‘hey, you know what, we only want you to hit or we only want you to pitch.’ And that could be a deal-breaker for him. I would suspect it might be at this stage of his career because he’s still doing both aspects of the game at a pretty high level.
"I don’t think there’s any question that would have been a part of the conversation had he been healthy. Now, I don’t know how this elbow injury factors in. Tommy John doesn’t scare a lot of people off anymore. The Braves made a trade for Max Fried when he was coming off Tommy John surgery and look at him now. I don’t think it scares teams all that much anymore. But obviously he’s not gonna be able to pitch for a year. I don’t know what that injury does to him offensively.
"I still think there’s gonna be plenty of interest."