Just as Major League Baseball's regular season remains in limbo, Japan's major leaguers are also riding out the storm of the coronavirus pandemic, waiting for word on when and how they will be able to play ball once again.

If any single player can be said to benefit from the layoff in which players have been sent home, it is Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Angels. Ostensibly a two-way player, Ohtani had Tommy John surgery in 2018 and spent most of that Rookie of the Year season and all of 2019 as a designated hitter.

The Angels had expected Ohtani to start 2020 as a DH before returning to the starting rotation after building his pitching strength back up. But, with no one knowing when the season will start, there is a good chance that Ohtani will be in the Angels rotation from the get-go.

Currently, Ohtani is training at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, California, where he resumed throwing bullpens on April 13, one month after spring training camps were suspended. He is now doing the training twice a week, throwing 35 to 40 pitches at about 80 percent of his full strength.

(Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Angels reacts after striking out in the second inning of a spring training game against the Seattle Mariners on March 10, 2020, in Peoria, Arizona)

He is expected to be able to pitch live batting practice as early as this month if California's current stay-at-home orders are lifted.

Outfielder Shogo Akiyama, who joined the Cincinnati Reds this year, is currently training in Los Angeles at his interpreter's home, hitting off a tee, and building his strength.

The Reds are the only major league team that has yet to field a Japanese player, but Akiyama's highly anticipated debut is on hold like everyone else's season.

"Everyone is in a difficult situation," said Akiyama, who didn't miss a game in his last five seasons with the Pacific League's Seibu Lions.

"Since I am playing as a pro, I need to be ready even when I can't see where the goal is."

Kenta Maeda has been at his home in Los Angeles. His February trade to the Minnesota Twins gives him a chance to fulfill his desire to be a full-time starting pitcher, a role that eluded him during his four seasons for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Yu Darvish, a candidate to be the Chicago Cubs' Opening Day starting pitcher, has remained in Arizona, close to the Cub's spring training facility.

Second-year Seattle Mariners pitcher Yusei Kikuchi is also working out in the Phoenix area along with new teammate Yoshihisa Hirano, who spent his first two big league seasons in Phoenix with the Arizona Diamondbacks.


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Three players chose to return to Japan during the pandemic.

Pitcher Shun Yamaguchi had been in Florida preparing to start his first season with the Toronto Blue Jays after being posted over the winter by the Yomiuri Giants.

He said he would have liked to work out in Toronto, where his family already was, but travel issues meant it would have been difficult for him to travel to Canada. So instead, he returned to Japan, where he is now playing catch in a park.

"I don't know when the season will start, but I have no choice but to believe it will," he said.

Pitcher Masahiro Tanaka left Florida in March with his family after expressing concern for his safety. Tanaka, who moved to the big leagues in 2014, is entering the final year of his seven-year contract with the New York Yankees. He has posted 10-plus wins in six-straight seasons and is the only Japanese pitcher to do so in the majors.

Like Akiyama and Yamaguchi, outfielder Yoshitomo Tsutsugo is waiting to make his big league debut.

Over the winter he joined the Tampa Bay Rays and having hit 205 home runs during his time with the Central League's DeNA BayStars, he will, once baseball resumes, be positioned to take aim at Hideki Matsui's 2004 record of 31 home runs by a Japanese player in a major league season.