We are now over a month into the first season of what Shohei Ohtani can do on both sides of the field throughout the whole year as a Dodger.
Ohtani is seemingly back to his pre-injury, Cy Young award contending form on the mound, as he’s coming off a dominant month of April where he was named the National League Pitcher of the Month. On the other side of the field, where he hit 109 home run in his first two years with the Dodgers, his bat has cooled off recently as he is currently miring in an 0-17
slump dating back to Wednesday April 29 against the Miami Marlins.
Ohtani attempted to mitigate his struggles by taking batting practice before Monday’s 8-3 win over the Houston Astros, but it only resulted in his hitless streak reaching five games. Despite the recent offensive struggles, Ohtani knows that the early portion of the season isn’t his strong suit and has faith that his bat will wake up as the season marches on, notes Maddie Lee of the Los Angeles Times.
“I do feel like over the course of my career it’s just a reality that I’m not exactly hitting at the best of my ability at this time of year,” Ohtani said last week through interpreter Will Ireton. “At the same time, as a player, I do want to be better and get to that position where I’m feeling really good. It’s a balancing act of the two.”
“It is easier to maintain something good when things are going well,” Ohtani said. “But when things are not going well, it’s not easy, in the sense that I have to make sure that I’m healthy and not overdoing it in terms of repetition. So while I’m working on certain things, it’s also a balancing act of making sure I’m not overdoing it physically and making sure that I’m healthy.”
Ohtani has already shown during his time with the Angels that pitching full-time wasn’t the main factor behind an offensive slump, and the reigning two-time MVP is adamant that the adjustment to being a full-time pitcher again hasn’t hampered his ability to hit, per Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register.
“I don’t think so, personally, that pitching has been affecting my hitting,” Ohtani said through his interpreter following Tuesday’s game. “At the same time, it has been a little bit longer than my expectation (to get going), in terms of the hitting side of things. So, I’ve been getting on base, which is a good thing. I just want to make sure that the quality of balls in play are better. And it’s not ideal that I’m trying to find that in the game (with less time to work in practice), but I just have to continue to do what I’m supposed to do.”
Tuesday was the third time this season that Ohtani solely took the mound, going a season-high seven innings while striking out eight, but his two home runs surrendered made the difference as he took another tough defeat. Ohtani spoke about the tenacity of Houston’s lineup and the ineffectiveness of his two mistake pitches following Tuesday’s game, per Courtney Hollmon of MLB.com.
“It was really mislocated, to the area completely opposite of where I was intending to,” Ohtani said through interpreter Will Ireton. “If the execution was better, I think it wouldn’t have been a homer, but they also put good swings as well.”
