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MLB Late Slate Picks: Angels (-105) in Athletics (-105)
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For the first time in nearly two years, Shohei Ohtani, the Los Angeles two-angel star, hit the mound in a major league game on Sunday afternoon. Ohtani has been limited to DH service since undergoing Tommy John surgery in September 2018. Sunday was his first official game action as a pitcher with his new elbow.
Ohtani’s return to the mound did not go well. No way. Against Athletics (GameTracker), Ohtani faced six batters and retired to zero. His entry was individual, walk, walk, walk, single, single, showers. Relief Matt Andriese allowed one of the two inherited running backs to score, so Ohtani was charged with five runs and zero recorded outs. Its effectiveness is infinite.
Ohtani struggled with control issues during summer camp, including walking eight in an intrascale game, plus he walked 10.4 percent of batters faced in his 51 2/3 innings in 2018. That is well above the league of 8.8 percent. Ohtani isn’t blessed with great control to begin with, and it’s not uncommon for pitchers to struggle with their control after Tommy John’s surgery. That is not a great combination.
Ohtani threw 16 fast balls and passed 94.7 mph on Sunday. His heater averaged 92.9 mph. In 2018, he averaged 97.3 mph and peaked at 101.9 mph with his fastball. Clearly, he is still developing arm strength. Here is the plot of Ohtani’s attack zone. Only 15 of his 30 pitches on Sunday were strikes and it appears that fewer than that were actually in the strike zone:
Baseball Savant
Ohtani is the first pitcher to allow three hits and three walks without removing a batter since Ryan Vogelsong in 2004, according to Paul Casella of MLB.com. He is the first American League pitcher to do so since Blake Stein in 1998.
The Angels plan to use a six-man rotation this season and start Ohtani once a week, mainly on Sundays because they have frequent days off on Mondays. Ohtani does not play the day before or after the start. The other days it serves as DH. Ohtani is 1-for-5 at the plate this season and is a .285 / .350 / .530 hitter in 211 major league games.
Sunday’s departure was ugly, though I wouldn’t expect the Angels to cut Ohtani off as a starter any time soon. He just returned from elbow reconstruction and they know there will be bumps along the way. Ohtani’s advantage is considerable: he threw 51 2/3 innings with 63 strikeouts and a 3.31 ERA in 2018, and it pays to be patient with him.
