Los Angeles Dodgers new signee Shohei Ohtani could find himself patrolling the outfield at Dodgers Stadium next season, according to comments made by manager Dave Roberts on Friday.

“There was even a little talk with Shohei about, come September, when he can pick up a baseball and throw, would he be open to taking some balls out there in left field?” Roberts said on The Dan Patrick Show on Friday, as reported by Sports Illustrated. “And he said, ‘If it works, and my arm feels okay, I'm open to it. We've got a lot of time before we get to that point.”

Ohtani is famously a designated hitter and starting pitcher, though he is not expected to pitch in 2024 after offseason elbow surgery this winter.

Ohtani has accumulated 8.1 innings of play in the outfield in his six-year MLB career, all with the Los Angeles Angels and all of his playing time in the field occurred to keep him in the lineup after he was removed as the starting pitcher.

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His first appearance on defense came on April 23, 2021, during a blowout loss to the Houston Astros.

“That was an emergency [move], but I can see him anywhere on the field,” Angels manager Joe Maddon said after that game. “The guy is such a great athlete. That was out of necessity today, but that's not part of the plans, but I'm telling you he could do it.”

The idea to play in left came from Ohtani himself.

“Actually he brought it up because I was gonna do a couple different things and he said he felt very good about going into left field, so that made he move very easy.”