Shohei Ohtani is without a doubt one of the most fascinating players in baseball history. In addition to being a formidable hitter (he leads the American with 20 homers), he is an excellent starting pitcher, which makes him the most talented player in the history of the sport.
There have been better hitters than him and there have been better pitchers than him, but no one has ever combined the two like this. In my eyes, therefore, he is the most talented in history.
And even though he’s still having an outstanding season, he’s been struggling on the mound for a while. He has an MPM (ERA) of 4.88 in his last eight starts, which is well beyond his standards.
How to explain its recent failures? The Japanese thinks he has the answer: he admits that he is a bit “tired” at the moment.
Ohtani insists he feels physically fine and is uninjured. That said, we know he has a heavy workload, and she may be running into him a bit.
The good news is that the solution could be quite simple. Last year, Ohtani was part of a rotation of six starters, so he only pitched once a week. However, this year, he is in a five-man rotation, so his turn always comes back a day earlier.
And for a guy who does as much on a ball diamond, we agree that the extra day of rest can change a lot of things.
The Angels gave him the famous fifth day off this week, and it’s to be expected that the experiment will continue. Just that, it could help him a lot.
That said, it’s not as simple as that: Ohtani has to deal with the dial of the pitchers, he who has often been quite slow on the mound. He also feels that his mechanics are no longer the same (perhaps because of the dial), which leads him to believe that he is no longer as efficient with his body.
Clearly, then, the Angels will need to make sure to maximize the performance of their ace pitcher over the coming weeks. It could go through the fifth day of rest, but it will also be necessary to help him adjust his mechanics so that he can once again become the Cy Young caliber gunner he knows himself to be.
It’s up to the Angels to manage everything.
- Tough evening for Rafael Devers.
- Six straight wins at Oakland. The A’s beat the Rays.
