MESA, Ariz. – Shohei Ohtani had an upper 90s fastball and wipeout splitter in his spring pitching debut on Friday, a 41-seat performance that seemed to confirm the Los Angeles Angels’ hopes that he can contribute as a two-way player this season.
Ohtani, who threw to midfield two days after unleashing a 486-foot home run, retired five of the 10 Oakland Athletics batters he encountered, the last three on splitters that fell well below the strike zone.
The righthander walked two, gave up three basehits – including two for extra bases – and was removed with two outs in the second inning as the Angels had set a 40-pitch limit. But Ohtani was in the attacking zone far more often than during his brief pitching stint last summer, showing a cleaner, more repeatable episode, which Angels manager Joe Maddon said he hoped to see.
“The big thing for him – the success will be the repeat delivery and knowing where his fastball is consistently going,” Maddon said after the game. “When that happens, he really runs off.”
Ohtani, 26, spent just two months as a two-way player for the past three years, in April and May of his 2018 rookie season, before Tommy John underwent surgery. He spent the remainder of the 2018 season and all of 2019 as the Angels’ main designated hitter, before struggling to return to two-way action during the COVID-19 shortened 2020 season. Ohtani made just two rough starts before joining the flexor. pronator mass at his surgically repaired elbow strained, only hitting him.
After the season – he hit .190 and had a 37.80 ERA – Ohtani underwent an aggressive off-season regime in which he got into more game-like situations as a batter and pitcher, overhauled his diet and training regimen, and sought advice from third parties, including, said sources, experts at renowned baseball facility Driveline. Ohtani’s progress became visible during the training portion of the spring training and is now manifesting in the game settings.
Ohtani, speaking through his interpreter, said he accidentally started ‘cutting’ some of his pitches while knocking over with runners in scoring position, but he was pleased with his splitter as an out-pitch and he believes his speed will continue to increase as the season progresses. .
Maddon has said he wants to ease some of the restrictions, such as when Ohtani’s turn comes in as part of a six-man rotation instead of on a particular day every week. Maddon is also open to the option of placing him in the lineup the day after his start, which was not the case.
“The important thing was to put him in charge of his own career and not try to dictate to him that much, let his athleticism take over and not be so concerned about getting hurt,” Maddon said of the reasoning behind being more aggressive. use. “He’s done this in the past, he should know himself better than we do, and we didn’t want to create these restrictions or set guidelines that we didn’t know whether they would work or not.”