The Los Angeles Angels will be "flexible" with Shohei Ohtani's usage when the regular season begins.

The club is leaving open the possibility that Ohtani could DH on days before and after he starts on the mound.

"When the season opens up, we'll obviously look very closely at it," Mike Scioscia said. "There is a lot of effort a pitcher has to put into pitching, and obviously it might erode some of the opportunities he has to hit. But we're going to be flexible with everything we do. If it comes down to where he is pitching in a day and he is not going to hit the day before, so be it. If a day after, he is not available or available to pinch-hit, so be it.

"But I think we need to be flexible as we go through this to work this out."

The ability of Albert Pujols to play first base occasionally would also play into the time Ohtani could spend as a DH.