Shohei Ohtani strikes out 11 Angels, but stumbles late in final spring training start

Shohei Ohtani appears ready for the MLB season to start. But maybe not for a full start. The Los Angeles Dodgers superstar finished off spring training on Tuesday by with an impressive showing against his former team, the Los Angeles Angels.

He posted 11 strikeouts against his first 14 batters, but left in the fifth after allowing three straight singles. His final line: 4-plus innings, 4 hits, 3 ER, 2 walks and 11 strikeouts on 86 pitches. He also went 1-for-2 at the plate.

Shohei -- the pitcher -- looks ready to go! 11 strikeouts in 4+ innings for Ohtani 😤 pic. twitter.

com/YocDJMLKgy — MLB (@MLB) March 25, 2026 As much as Ohtani and the Dodgers would have likely preferred a complete shutdown performance, the more important information from a spring training start is the pitch count and how his stuff looked. Shohei Ohtani’s velocity ticked down significantly in last inning Ohtani’s pitching has been something of an unknown this spring. It’s the first time he’s entered spring training with plans to be a part of the Dodgers’ spring training rotation, but he didn’t pitch in a game at all until he returned from Japan’s World Baseball Classic team.