ORLANDO, Florida – While it remains unclear whether Shohei Ohtani will hit and pitch at March’s World Baseball Classic, Los Angeles Dodgers skipper Dave Roberts and general manager Brandon Gomes voiced their preference Monday for the club’s two-way superstar to stay off the mound at the tournament.

Ohtani last month announced his participation in Samurai Japan’s title defense but has yet to say whether he intends to reprise the two-way performance that saw him named WBC MVP in 2023.

“I’m hoping he doesn’t (pitch). But I don’t know,” Roberts said at MLB’s Winter Meetings in Orlando, Florida. “He’s very in tune with his body. But I would say probably the thought is he’s probably just going to hit.”

The 31-year-old Ohtani made his long-awaited return as a pitcher during the 2025 MLB campaign following his second major elbow surgery in September 2023.

Fellow Dodgers Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki were both integral to Samurai Japan’s 2023 championship, and while neither pitcher has announced plans for March, Roberts said he hoped any role would be limited, considering their recent physical demands.

World Series MVP Yamamoto threw an MLB career-high 173-2/3 regular-season innings in 2025 and another 37-1/3 in the postseason, while Sasaki only returned from a rehabilitation stint for a shoulder impingement late in the season.

“I would like to think that it’s going to be a dialogue as far as restrictions and limitations, in the sense of just trying to give them the opportunity,” Roberts said.

“But also understand they’ve come off some stuff, some long seasons, and certainly with Yamamoto and looking out for 2026.”

Gomes said the Dodgers had yet to talk with Yamamoto and Sasaki about playing for Japan, with the club’s plans to win a third straight World Series taking precedence in the offseason.

“We’ve got so much stuff going on right now that it’s probably a little more on the back burner,” Gomes said. “We just need to sit down and talk through it as an organization, and then once we get more info on the players, have those conversations as well.”

Japan will begin its WBC championship defense against Pool C opponent Taiwan at Tokyo Dome on March 6.