In his second opening, Shohei Ohtani showed glimpses of his potential by recording his first two strikeouts, although his participation was limited to the first inning. The Los Angeles Dodgers are being cautious with his progress as a pitcher. That was the original plan. I hope to add more and more releases. Ohtani managed to overcome a wild pitch and a fly ball that Mookie Betts couldn’t catch, completing a scoreless first inning. In this second start in a week, he struck out Luis García Jr. with a sweeper and Nathaniel Lowe with a slider. The speed of his fastball reached 98.8 mph, after having exceeded 100 mph in his debut. Using the PitchCom device to select his pitches, Ohtani commented that he felt “much more relaxed” in this second outing. He highlighted the improvement in “the way my body moves when pitching”, an aspect he worked on with the pitching coaches. Regarding his offensive performance, Ohtani went 2-for-19 with nine strikeouts in the five days between his starts. On pitching game days, he has held the leadoff spot, which involves quickly preparing to bat in the middle of the first inning. After his initial punch on Monday, he repeated the experience on Sunday. However, his bat woke up later in the game. With the bases loaded and no outs, Ohtani hit a triple that drove in runs, breaking the tie. In the next inning, he added a two-run home run, his number 26 of the season and leader of the National League.
The Dodgers have considered moving Ohtani from the leadoff position on their opening days, especially at home, to give him more preparation time. However, they are determined to follow a methodical process with his progression as a pitcher. He is expected to make his third start in the next six to eight days, and although he could pitch in the second inning, it will still take time until he is fully prepared as a traditional starting pitcher.It’s a unicorn. It does everything.
Dalton Rushing
It’s going to be a gradual process. I want to see improvements in the quality of the pitches I make and also increase the number of pitches.
Shohei Ohtani
