MESA, Ariz. Shohei Ohtani presented a fast-paced ball from the nineties and an erasure in his spring debut on Friday, an outing with 41 pitches that apparently confirms the Los Angeles Angels’ hopes that he can contribute as a two-way. this season.
Two days after releasing a 486-foot home run to the immediate midfield, Ohtani unleashed five of the ten Oakland Athletics batsmen he faced, the last three on splitters who fell far below the strike zone.
The right-hander issued two runs, gave up three hits – two of which went for extra dogs – and was bowled out with two in the second innings as the English set a 40-point limit. But Ohtani was much more frequent in the strike zone than during his short save period last summer, and he showed a cleaner, more repeatable delivery, which Joe Maddon, manager of English, said he hoped to see.
“The biggest thing for him: the success is repeating delivery and knowing where his fast ball is going consistently,” Maddon said. “If that happens, he’s really going to take off.”
Ohtani, 26, has only been a two-way player for the past three years, in April and May of his 2018 rookie season, before undergoing surgery on Tommy John. He spent the rest of the 2018 season and the whole of 2019 as the Englishman’s first designated hit, and then struggled to return to two-way action during the COVID-19 shortened 2020 season. Ohtani started only twice, before straining the flexor mass near his surgically repaired elbow, limiting him to hitting only.
After the season – he beat .190 and had an era of 37.80 – Ohtani underwent an aggressive off-season in which he ended up as a hitter and pitcher in more playful situations, refurbished his diet and workout and sought third-party advice. has. , including, according to sources, experts at the well-known baseball facility Driveline. Ohtani’s progress has shown during the spring practice session and is now manifesting itself in game settings.
Speaking through his interpreter, Ohtani said he incorrectly started “cutting” from his stands while being tossed around with runners in the standings, but he was delighted with his split as an outfielder and he believes his speed will continues to rise as the season progresses.
Maddon said he wants to ease some of the restrictions, such as when Ohtani’s turn comes as part of a six-man rotation rather than on a certain day each week. Maddon is also open to the possibility of placing him in the series a day after his start, which was not the case.
“The big thing was to put him in control of his own career and not try to dictate so much to him, to allow his athletics to take over and not be so worried about getting hurt,” Maddon said of the reasoning behind more aggressive use. “He’s done this in the past, he needs to know himself better than we do, and we did not want to create these restrictions or set guidelines that we did not know if it would work or not.”