Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register runs through a number of factors that could contribute to the remarkable discrepancy between Shohei Ohtani’s uninspiring spring performance and his dominance on both sides of the ball during the regular season. Meanwhile, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic highlights (subscription link) Ohtani’s ravenous consumption of data and analytics that the Angels are providing him and his ability to make unnaturally quick adjustments. Veterans Ian Kinsler and Chris Young marveled to both Fletcher and Rosenthal about Ohtani’s work ethic and adaptability, while hitting coach Eric Hinske praised his willingness to ditch a leg kick he had long utilized at the plate in an effort to make his swing more efficient. Pitching coach Charles Nagy and catcher Martin Maldonado also weighed in on the way in which Ohtani has quickly adapted to his new environs while taking MLB by storm.
More from the division…
- Jurickson Profar exited Monday night’s game after a rough landing upon being upended by a sliding Mallex Smith at second base and is currently in MLB’s concussion protocol, as Gerry Fraley of the Dallas Morning News writes. Even a short-term absence for Profar would further devastate the Rangers’ middle infield depth, as both Rougned Odor and Elvis Andrus are currently on the shelf. As Fraley points out, Eliezer Alvarez is the only middle infielder in the minors that’s on Texas’ 40-man roster, but he’s primarily a second baseman. Hanser Alberto could see his contract selected if Profar needs to go on the disabled list, though that’d require a corresponding 40-man move. Andrus is the only player who presently stands out as a potential 60-day DL candidate to make that move, but the initial prognosis on him called for a recovery of six to eight weeks. If the Rangers are optimistic that he can return on the shorter end of that window, they won’t want to lock him into a 60-day absence, creating the possibility that they’ll need to designate someone for assignment.
- The Athletics will call on right-hander Trevor Cahill to take the ball in tonight’s game against the White Sox, as MLB.com’s Jane Lee writes. Oakland brought Cahill back to the organization on a one-year, $1.5MM deal late in Spring Training after it was learned that young righty Jharel Cotton would require Tommy John surgery. The veteran Cahill, who broke into the Majors with the A’s back in 2009, has made a pair of starts in the minors as he builds up arm strength and tossed 83 pitches in his most recent outing, Lee notes. Manager Bob Melvin said that the right-hander might be able to go a bit longer than that this time out, though it obviously Cahill’s performance will dictate what type of leash he’s given.
- The Mariners are facing a significant number of roster decisions in the coming days, beginning with the debate over how to clear space on the 25-man roster for fifth starter Ariel Miranda tonight, writes Greg Johns of MLB.com. Seattle also needs to find space to activate Ben Gamel from the disabled list, as he’s now played nine games on his minor league rehab assignment and is largely ready for big league activity. But Gamel’s return presents its own set of issues, as the club will face a decision on struggling 44-year-old Ichiro Suzuki. As Johns examines at much greater length, the team essentially needs to determine whether it’s best to move forth with a seven- or eight-man bullpen while also clearing space for a few returning regulars and making some sort of determination on Ichiro.
stansfield123
Ohtani’s two starts have been against the A’s, right? Which is probably the lineup that’s the easiest to dismantle, if you pay attention to the scouting report.
I guess tonight we’ll see how he does against a lineup that doesn’t have big time power, but also lacks the holes you can exploit by studying analytics. They’re coming in hot, too, so he’s not just gonna overpower them with two pitches. He’s gonna have to battle, and hope his offense gets to Price.
aj_54
they’re going to wreck him
stansfield123
Lol. Just because the Red Sox lineup is less predictable than the As, doesn’t mean they’re going to “wreck” a guy who’s been dominating NPB for years.
They’re going to be a bigger challenge for him than the As. That’s all. If he has his good stuff, he can shut down anybody. If he doesn’t, then he’s going to have to battle.
lowtalker1
Red Sox are going to own him. I don’t even like the Red Sox
bkbkbk
David Price burner accounts coming in hot…
mannyl101
Agree
aj_54
dingers, rekt
ayrbhoy
Cannot WAIT to watch that unfold. Hopefully weather doesn’t adversely affect both SP’s. Frigid temps-Some pitchers talk about how they feel they have an advantage over hitters while others say it’s tough to grip the ‘slick’ ball that comes w cold weather. We shall see
fartymorono
The game is in Anaheim…
RoXGB
Playing in California, 70+ degrees, thinking he won’t have to deal with frigid temps just yet
ThePriceWasRight
The game is in Anaheim.
ayrbhoy
Awesome! No cold weather excuses then
oaksbossko
The A’s don’t have power? Are you kidding me?!
Thurman8er
He’s saying the Sox don’t have big time power. Not the A’s.
lowtalker1
You don’t need power to win games.
angelsfan4life
Thank you for reminding me, why I hate the Roid Sox and their fans so much. So the Sox have scored 89 runs. The A’s have scored 82. Wow what a huge difference . The Sox opponents combined record this season, 25 – 52. The Angels opponents combined record this season, 31 – 48. Neither team has played a tough schedule yet. But hey good luck the rest of the season. And don’t cry to much when you lose the series to the Angels.
aj_54
I love when people make broad sweeping statements like that
juicemane
there is an enormous amount of misinformation on this site by supposed “baseball fans”….seriously some of guys are worse than the loser commenters on fangraphs.
“don’t suck at your hobby…because that means you probably suck at everything else”
davidcoonce74
There are scouting reports on the Red Sox, too. Ohtani will get some benefit from the whole “first time through the league” factor. But the Red Sox are a little more diverse team offensively. Both the Red Sox and A’s are top-10 offenses by OPS. So this will be a bit more of a challenge. Or maybe he’ll get shelled. Or pitch a no-hitter. Either way, I’m excited to see him again. It’s good for the game to have someone doing this.
brucewayne
I’d bet a ton that he doesn’t throw a no-hitter. He’ll be lucky to get threw the 3rd inning!
Priggs89
I’d say it’s a LOT more about people judging a guy based on tiny sample sizes rather than some “remarkable” turnaround.
He pitched a whopping 2.2 innings and had 32 at-bats in spring training. That’s WAY too quick to write someone off – just like it’s way too quick to anoint him the chosen one after 13 innings pitched and 30 at-bats in the regular season.
AngelDiceClay2
He pitched a lot more than 2.2 innings in SP. He was pitching a lot of B games. A lot of us Angel fans were worried that he might start the season in AAA. But Scioscia, Nagy and Eppler knew he was close.
mlb1225
I feel bad for Profar. He comes up as one of the best prospects in the game, under-performs, misses 2 whole seasons with injury, comes back, doesn’t have a spot for regular playing time, bounces between minors and majors as a utility guy, finally gets a good shot at regular playing time, then gets injured.
Whos123
So unlucky
RunDMC
25 y/o with $3.72M in earnings.
When I was his age, I had that in student loans.
mlb1225
So I can’t feel bad for anyone with money? It’s probably his dream to play major league baseball, and has never gotten a good chance.
Long Duc Dong
Damn, you got ripped off
lowtalker1
He got a chance. He will continue to have chances. Instead of trading him, the rangers keep him and I believe he is out of options now
brucewayne
I hope you went to Harvard AND got your MD for that kind of money!
jbigz12
Has the ichiro nostalgia finally worn off for M’s fans?
ayrbhoy
Never came for a whole lot of Seattle fans present commenters included. Personally, I think they should put him on the DL w some type of mysterious muscle injury- give him a chance to ride off into the teal colored sunset with the fans who are attached to the 2000’s memory of Ichiro. Honor his past but move on I say. I’m positive the FO told him he’d get next to no playing time if our OFers are healthy.
Rollie's Mustache
Willie Calhoun is on the Rangers’ 40-man. I know his 2B defense sucks but wouldn’t he be a logical promotion? Even just manning second for a week or so could buy the team some time as they understand the extent of Profar’s injury.
Thurman8er
I’ve watched both of Ohtani’s games as a pitcher. I think tonight’s performance will be more about whether he can pitch as well as he did against the A’s than about facing a better line-up. If he is spotting 98 mph fastballs and throwing that devastating splitter, the Sox won’t fare much better than the A’s did.
Long Duc Dong
Agreed
ryanw-2
A better lineup that has only scored 7 more runs than the A’s? Hmm…
Thurman8er
I’m guessing most people would rate the Sox lineup higher than the A’s lineup. Yeah. There’s more to it than the total number of runs over the first few weeks.
davidcoonce74
The Sox are ranked 2 by OPS and the A’s 6th. But it’s still SSS
joshb600
I agree that what he’s been able to do is pretty exciting to watch, but it bugs me that every time he gets a hit it’s a top news article on mlb.com… the other day he went I believe 1-3 and hit a double… Him hitting a double was like top 5 articles. No RBI, nothing game changing… It’s a bit much…
Thurman8er
Yeah, even I have to admit it’s over the top coverage. Imagine if he was a friggin’ Yankee…
davidcoonce74
Everything he does this season is game-changing. We haven’t seen a two-way player in any of our lifetimes. And even before the two years that Ruth did it, it was almost never done. The fact that he “only” hit a double in three at-bats against the most elite baseball players in the world, a few days after a dominating starting pitching performance, is pretty cool. Plus, for a game that is desperately trying to attract new fans, anything that fills up ballparks and becomes appointment TV in two different countries, can only be good for the game.
Thurman8er
It is exciting. We’ve had tickets for the games this Friday and Saturday since the day they went on sale. Each start we’ve tried to project whether he would be pitching one of those days. It looks apparent at this point that he won’t be, but he should be in the lineup both days.
Can’t wait to be part of the crowd.
whereslou
I hope the Red Sox destroy him because I am a bitter Mariners fan. Not really I hate the Sox almost as much as the Yankees but it is mostly the fans.
I was sure he was coming here and would make our team that much better. I have to root for the Sox because every win is going to be meaningful this season. The ALW is going to be a dog fight. I would be rooting for Ohtani to have a great year if he was in a different league.
I can’t wait to see the OF all together and playing at 100% they will be good. Ichiro will be a numbers casualty but will retire a Mariner and go into the HOF a Mariner. Getting Zunino back will be nice too. Will be a tough line up to work through when all are healthy and hitting. Hopefully they stay that way and the pitching staff does too.