Ohtani Won't Need Surgery, Dodgers Expect Him to Pitch in 2027

Shohei Ohtani will not undergo surgery on his left knee, his right arm, or any other injury he played through in the second half of the 2026 season, Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said Wednesday during an end-of-season news conference at Dodger Stadium, according to ESPN. Doctors instead prescribed rest, and the Dodgers expect Ohtani's 2027 season to proceed as a two-way player, both pitching and hitting.

The diagnosis closes out a stretch in which Ohtani's production visibly dropped off as the calendar turned toward October. ESPN reported that he finished the regular season with 11 hits and 29 strikeouts over his final 70 at-bats, then went 4-for-22 with no extra-base hits across his first seven postseason games. The decline came as he was also managing the knee and arm issues that triggered the medical evaluation Friedman addressed Wednesday.

What did Andrew Friedman say about Ohtani's health?

Friedman told reporters that doctors determined surgery was unnecessary for any of the ailments Ohtani dealt with over the second half of the season, and that rest alone is the prescribed course, per ESPN. The Dodgers executive said the expectation is that the 2027 season will be unaffected by the injuries, and that Ohtani will begin his offseason preparations training as a two-way player — the role he has occupied for the Dodgers since signing with the club.

"I fully expect him to pitch next year," Friedman said, according to ESPN's report.

Why did Ohtani's production fall off late in the season?

ESPN's account does not attribute the late-season decline directly to the knee or arm issues in Friedman's own words, but the timing lines up: Ohtani's slump arrived in the same stretch — the second half of the season — in which he was managing the injuries that prompted the medical review. His numbers over his final 70 regular-season at-bats (11 hits, 29 strikeouts) and his 4-for-22, no-extra-bases postseason start reflect a player operating at less than full strength, even as he continued both pitching and hitting duties.

What will Ohtani's path to 2027 look like?

Friedman was explicit that no final plan exists yet for how the Dodgers will manage Ohtani's workload next season. He framed the challenge in terms of balancing a full six-month schedule against peak performance in October.

"This is unprecedented, what he's doing," Friedman said. "So obviously for us it's unprecedented. We don't have any experience to draw from. We can't go look at how other situations have played out to try to learn from the good and the bad. We have to all just figure it out together. And I'm not only expecting him to pitch; we're excited about him pitching. So now it's about: How do we do that? How do we manage through a long season and have him at his best going into October? That's a challenge."

Why is managing a two-way Ohtani described as unprecedented?

Friedman's comments underline a structural reality for the Dodgers front office: no prior pitcher-hitter has played a full major league workload at Ohtani's level long enough to generate a template for in-season management, injury prevention, or postseason pacing. Friedman said the club cannot "go look at how other situations have played out" because none closely resembles what Ohtani is doing, leaving the Dodgers to design a plan without a comparable precedent to study.

What should fans watch for next?

• Offseason training reports. Friedman said Ohtani will begin preparing as a two-way player; any update on whether that includes a full pitching buildup from day one will signal how the Dodgers plan to sequence his 2027 workload.
• A formal workload plan. Friedman acknowledged the club has yet to determine "what that looks like" for pitching and hitting together across a full season — a concrete plan would be the next milestone.
• Spring training health checks. Since rest, not surgery, was prescribed for the knee and arm issues, any report on how those areas respond to an offseason of recovery will matter heading into camp.
• Postseason pacing. Friedman framed October performance as the ultimate goal of any 2027 management plan, which suggests the Dodgers will be explicit about protecting Ohtani for the stretch run rather than optimizing for the regular season alone.

For now, the headline fact from Friedman's Wednesday briefing is narrow but significant for a team that has built its roster around a two-way star: no surgery, a rest-based recovery, and an expectation — not yet a finalized plan — that Ohtani pitches and hits again in 2027, as reported by ESPN.

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