Rest of MLB should be scared of the latest Shohei Ohtani news for Dodgers

Shohei Ohtani is already ahead of last year.

The Los Angeles Dodgers' two-way superstar is already the best baseball player on the planet, and maybe ever. He's already a two-time World Series champion in two seasons with the Dodgers, too.

And now, another reason for baseball to be scared.

Two seasons ago, Ohtani didn't pitch at all for the Dodgers as he recovered from Tommy John surgery.

Last season, Ohtani had to ramp up slowly as he worked back into pitching in MLB games again.

This time around, Ohtani is already throwing at spring training.

"To see him face hitters, kind of start his buildup -- he’s certainly way ahead of where he was last year on the pitching side. That’s a good thing," manager Dave Roberts said Tuesday, via MLB.com. "But I just really don’t worry too much about his buildup and preparation."

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Ohtani isn't going to be pitching for Samurai Japan during the World Baseball Classic.

That means he can ramp up some of his throwing before leaving for the WBC, then will have to try to do it again after the tournament, with likely only some on-the-side pitching while taking part in the event.

"Obviously, last year [he] was coming back from surgery, and so we were very deliberate about a lot of things," president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said, via MLB.com. "This year we will be less so, but still mindful of it. It's a heavy, heavy load that he takes on that is different from every other player in baseball. And so I think a lot of it is reading and reacting."

Ohtani is already an MVP-level player in every way. If he's actually at full strength all season long for the Dodgers on both sides of the baseball, he's that much tougher for the rest of the baseball world to deal with.

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