Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Angels has gotten himself off to a hot start to begin the 2018 season. The two-way phenom has been effective on the mound for the Angels as well as being a reliable source for the Angels offensive output. Ohtani signed with the Angels in December, was arguably the biggest name in the 2017-2018 free agent class.
From the mound this year, Ohtani has won two starts and is scheduled to make his third start Tuesday April 17th. In the two starts he has pitched in, he posted an ERA of 2.08 only giving up 3 earned runs over 13 innings. Ohtani is not only not allowing baserunners, but he has struck out 18 batters over 13 innings pitched. Pitching against David Price this Tuesday, Ohtani is coming off of a 7 inning, 1 hit shutout in his last start.
The Sho must go on!
Shohei Ohtani is scheduled to start Tuesday vs. Red Sox after today’s contest in Kansas City was postponed.#Angels pitching rotation for upcoming series vs. Boston:
Tuesday: RHP Shohei Ohtani
Wednesday: LHP @TylerSkaggs37
Thursday: RHP @PaPaTropeano pic.twitter.com/9toaYxJBd7— Angels (@Angels) April 15, 2018
On the offensive side of the game, Ohtani has also been effective for the Angels. He has accumulated 33 plate appearances, in which he has gotten on base 14 of those appearances. Ohtani has a current slash line of .367/.424/.767 along with 11 RBI’s. Ohtani has also sent three balls over the fences this year for the Angels. Manager Mike Scioscia has batted Ohtani in the 8th spot of the batting order for all the games that he has been in the lineup until this week when Ohtani was moved up to the 7th spot in the lineup.
It’s only April 15th, but Shohei Ohtani is 2-0 with a 2.08 ERA 18 Ks in 13 IP and a 0.46 WHIP…
PLUS
Batting .367 with 3 HRs in 30 ABs, and a 1.191 OPS…
— Paul Sacca (@Paul_Sacca) April 15, 2018
Regardless of what anyone says, Ohtani has produced and he has been spectacular through his first year in Major League Baseball. As of right now, the Angels are housing a 6-man starting rotation, meaning that Ohtani is on the mound once every six games. Offensively, he can play the field as a first baseman and outfielder but is currently slotted as the designated hitter three times per week.
The Angels are looking to continue a strong start to the 2018 season, being 13-3 to start off the year. Manager Mike Scioscia is looking to have the same output out of Ohtani to keep the Angels offense on the winning side. Do some research in different betting sites for odds on the Angels or Ohtani this season.
The one question about Ohtani is if he will be able to keep this workload up the whole year. Ohtani is the focal point of a lot of media for the Los Angeles Angels and it might take some adjustments to get used to it. For example, when Clayton Kershaw pitches, he talks to the media that day and then he’s on the bench until he pitches again. Whereas Ohtani will pitch tomorrow and most likely be the designated hitter later in the week and this will lead to more media coverage of him and this could be tiring for the rookie who is still getting acclimated to the big leagues.
Ohtani has been nothing short of incredible, he has turned into a two-way phenom in the first month, we are looking to see if this workload and output will continue or if the Angels will need to lessen the playing time to see the same output. He is on the brink of shocking the game of baseball by becoming a two-way phenom which could possibly open the door for others like the Cincinnati Reds 2017 No.2 overall pick Hunter Greene.
