Dave Roberts reveals ongoing plan to have Shohei Ohtani pitching and not DH on start days April 28 2026

TLDR:

• Dave Roberts sat Shohei Ohtani as a DH to reduce workload after a long stretch, letting him focus solely on pitching and recover mentally/physically.
• The decision is flexible (“read and react”), prioritizing health and long-term performance over maximizing daily output, with Ohtani fully on board.
• Roberts said this is the best he’s seen Ohtani pitch, and managing fatigue now should help sustain elite performance later in the season.

Reporter: Well Dave just first, last night you obviously told us that Shohei was the only going to be pitching today. When you guys are taking into consideration just that what did you find that's just kind of the most important thing with this outing today with you only wanting him to be the pitcher and not the DH?

Dave: I think with today it was more of it's not it's been like the 13 in a row. I think it's been a grind for everyone and also you kind of take into consideration, you know, everything that Shohei goes through on a daily basis, to know that he'll be back in the lineup tomorrow, I think this is an opportunity to kind of, you know, hedge a little bit, play both sides to have a guy that's swinging a good bat in Dalton, you know, replace him for a night to give Shohei the best opportunity to pitch well and not do how to take on both duties for tonight to then just hit tomorrow and then have an off day and hopefully, you know, kind of this abbreviation will get him reset after the off day.

Reporter: With Dalton, last time you did this, I think he was about seventh. Why did you want him to bat leadoff today?

Dave: Um, I think you know, he's swinging well. I didn't want to kind of tinker too much with this.

Construction for everyone and there weren't, with that, there weren't a whole lot of options. And I felt that, you know, the way he is swinging the bat. I like where Hyeseong is at at the bottomish. And keep them down there and then I just felt good. I think that Dalton can handle it.

It.

Reporter: How often do you expect to do this over the course of a season?

Dave: I don't know. It's kind of a read and react I guess I mean looking at we just came off 13 in a row. You know, Dalton's swinging well. The right-handed pitcher, you know, the day game tomorrow where I can catch him. And all those factors kind of let it just I can't even put a number on how many times I am going to do it.

Reporter: Obviously, it's most valuable is to use both. But how do you balance like valuing pitching at certain points versus hitting at certain points in season, especially with what ultimately you want them to be at?

Dave: Yeah. I think the main thing is what's best for him. And I think that that's something that…And that's more the health part. Appreciating that there's a long way to go. He's taking on a lot. He's starting at six innings pitching. And so, that's kind of the main thing. Obviously,

having him do both duties,theory, practice, it's great, but how sustainable is it without kind of taking a little bit off his plate a little bit? You know, that's the question, and it's not exact science.

Reporter: Is it more about keeping him healthy and fresh rather than maximize his performance as a pitcher?

Dave: Yeah, yeah, exactly, yeah. But with that where he can just spend one night just focusing on pitching and not preparing to hit, you would think that it would only help for that particular outing.

Reporter: What was his reaction?

Dave: He was fine with it. He completely understood and I think for him, for he and I.

Every decision I make with him or any of my players, they understand it's for their benefit.

Reporter: When you are having that conversation with him and going through kind of the reasoning for today?

Dave: I didn't go through with him to be honest with you.

Reporter: Is he asking at all about…?

Dave: No. No, he just kind of wants so, you know, communication. And I told him my decision and he was okay with it and moved on, yeah.

Reporter: Is it kind of fair to say that this time of year you can afford not to have his at bat in the lineup, but you get to the stretch run, you push him?

Dave: Yeah, absolutely. I think that aligns with kind of the way we look at things and

understanding when you need o push guys and when you don't.

Reporter: Do you think he understands the bigger picture with this kind of stuff. What does that tell you about someone who wants to push himself but can take a step back and see what the reasoning is?

Dave: Yeah, I think that number one, there's certainly trust with the organization with me

understanding that he's smart in the sense of being able but to look a little bit beyond just today.

And that takes a smart player to understand the nuances of it. And yeah, I mean, I just, you could also argue that being fresh will allow you to perform better going forward as opposed to just being in the game you know, one day and the exponential effect of you know, fatigue. So, you know, I think that's, it's a smart play.

Reporter: the workload in the game is the most important part but what's different about Shohei's pregame work when he's only pitching and not doing both? What's taken away there?

Dave: I think the amount of preparation physically as far as on the hitting. That's one part of it.

That's tangible. I think that not having to gameplan for a starting pitcher is another part of the bandwidth preparation part time. That he doesn't need to take part in. And so, I mean, it's almost like a half day for him. You know, I mean, so I think that in itself is a win for his mind and body.

Reporter: Is he still game planning for the opposing starter even on his start days?

Dave: I don't think so. I don't think so, but what's interesting is that even the other day that he didn't hit he still took swings. A couple swings, which is really ironic.

Reporter: Dave you’ve talked since Spring about this kind of how it really seems like he really kind of wants to do well pitching this year. There's an increased emphasis on that. The fact that he's been accepting of these decisions of yours is that, is that a reflection of that as well?

Dave: You know what? Maybe, maybe. But I think that, you know…I think he's just smart enough to know that last year is different than this year. Given he's number one, he's two years removed, which is a good thing. But the other part of it is that the workload has started off a lot higher and then what's sustainable so I think that his goal is to make every start. And so with that, there has to be some compromise and some openness to kind of read and react and I think so far, I think we're doing a nice job and he's open to that.

Reporter: You have gotten to know him the last couple years. If he was, let's just say, unhappy with this you think he would tell you?

Dave: I think he would do it in a respectful way as far as I think that he could felt like he could take it on. But I don't think it would certainly, but I…I'd like to think he would tell me if he did.

I didn't agree with it. And then there's a deeper conversation, but I think that he's just very respectful of a decision that, you know, a manager or an organization makes.

Reporter: Is this the best you’ve seen from Shohei Ohtani the pitcher?

Dave: Yes, yeah. It is the best we've seen. I've seen. And, um…even when he is

I don't know what the start of it was. I think it was three starts ago. He just wasn't right in his delivery and still found a way to throw up zeros, but outside of that one, he's been pretty lights out. So this is as good as I've seen him.

Reporter: In your opinion, having him just pitch like today or having him pitch and hit on the same day and then take a day off the next day. Which do you think is more effective reducing his workload?

Dave: That is an easy answer. Reducing the workload, the easy answer is he just pitches and doesn't hit and then hits the next day to reduce his workload because he's not doing both in one

Night but then you've got to ask the question, what's better for him, what's better for the team layering on the rest and how he's feeling, those are the questions that you have to ask but yeah

If he's not hitting while pitching and then not pitching and then hitting, the next day, that's the easiest but is that optimizing him? Is that what he would want to do going forward? Probably not.

Reporter: Will he be on a tighter leash tonight since it is only 5 days rest?

Dave: No, I feel good. I feel good. I think that even his outing that I could have pushed him a little more his last one, but knowing where he was going to slot in. I'll look at it normally,

Reporter: I know he did a bunch in 2023, so you're going to have to do that a lot more this next couple of days. Does he have to be used to the five days rest schedule a little bit more?

Dave: I don't think so. I mean, I think it could happen. He's certainly open to it, but…you know, in this particular situation, given what Tyler did and kind of how it played out, but you know, it could flip the next time. I'm not gonna say it's the last time, but I don't think it will be commonplace. All right, thanks, guys.