After a winter of transactional activity, spring training will soon commence, with a bevy of high-profile players who changed threads this offseason reporting to their new clubs. As compelling as those arrivals are, sometimes the most exciting “additions” to a club are the players fans are already familiar with — the ones who were hurt but are now healthy.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at 20 players who missed most or all of the 2024 season and the intrigue surrounding their returns to their respective teams. While this is hardly an exhaustive list of big leaguers slated to resume play in 2025, it’s a selection of those whose reintegration onto the roster could significantly alter the course of their team’s season.
Read more: Grading every team’s offseason, from an A+ for the Dodgers to Fs for the Padres and Mariners
RHP Shohei Ohtani, Los Angeles Dodgers
Injury: Right elbow surgery in September 2023, left labrum surgery in November 2024
There’s no shortage of injured Dodgers arms to keep track of. Tyler Glasnow finished the year on the injured list due to a sprained elbow but is expected to be a full-go in spring training. Dustin May (Tommy John surgery in July 2023) and Tony Gonsolin (Tommy John surgery in September 2023) will both be competing for rotation spots this spring after missing all of 2024. Several others could return from their respective surgeries at some point in 2025 (Emmet Sheehan, Brusdar Graterol) or 2026 (Gavin Stone, Kyle Hurt, River Ryan).
But while those pitchers could each eventually make important contributions as members of the Dodgers’ laughably loaded pitching staff, none of their returns comes remotely close to the magnitude of Ohtani’s pending resumption as a two-way sensation. For the first time in Dodger blue, Ohtani will remind us all of what makes him truly singular — and this after a season in which he rewrote the record books as a designated hitter while winning the World Series and his third unanimous MVP award.
Adding to the intrigue surrounding Ohtani is that he’s technically coming back from two major surgeries following the shoulder injury he suffered while sliding into second base during last year’s Fall Classic. While that was on his non-throwing side, it represents another hurdle for him to clear en route to what could be yet another season of mind-blowing achievements. It sounds like May is the rough target for Ohtani’s return to the mound, and it promises to be quite the…