LOS ANGELES — Two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani won’t pitch for Japan in the World Baseball Classic in March, Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Saturday.

Roberts said it was Ohtani’s decision to focus solely on being the designated hitter for his home country in the international event, which takes place from March 5-17 concurrent with MLB teams going through spring training and their exhibition schedules.

He said the two-time reigning World Series champions “absolutely” would have supported Ohtani if he had wanted to also pitch or Japan. Yoshinobu Yamamoto — one of Ohtani’s teammates with the Dodgers and the MVP of last year’s World Series — will pitch for Japan in the WBC despite his heavy workload for Los Angeles last season.

“Yoshi feels he wants to take it on and feels good, and we support him,” Roberts said at the team’s fan festival.

Ohtani made two starts for Japan in the 2023 WBC and then came out of the bullpen in the ninth inning to clinch the championship by striking out American slugger Mike Trout — his teammate with the Los Angeles Angels at the time — for the final out against the United States.

Ohtani tore his ulnar collateral ligament in August that year and later underwent elbow surgery, which kept him from pitching during his first season with the Dodgers in 2024, when he was their full-time designated hitter.

He gradually returned to pitching last year and made four postseason starts during the Dodgers’ run to their second straight World Series championship.

Ohtani didn’t confirm his decision not to pitch in the WBC when speaking with reporters before Roberts. The four-time league MVP — including the past two seasons in the National League — said through a translator that he had to “see how my body feels, feel the progression and see what happens.”

The 31-year-old Ohtani said he has gone through a normal offseason because he hasn’t been rehabbing from injury.

“I’m very healthy,” he said. “Glad that I am.”

Roberts said he won’t manage Ohtani any differently now that he’s going to pitch a full season. He said there will be ample rest days in between starts and Ohtani won’t be scheduled for any more two- or three-inning starts.

Ohtani, Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki were teammates on Japan’s WBC title team in 2023. However, Sasaki won’t be pitching this time, coming off a rookie MBL season filled with ups and downs that ended with him pitching out of the bullpen for the Dodgers.