Shohei Ohtani made his MLB debut as a pitcher on April 1, 2018. He tossed 6 innings, struck out 6 batters and earned his first career win in the big league. In his rookie season, he made 10 starts and had a 4-2 record with a 3.31 ERA. His WHIP was 1.16 in 2018 and batters only hit .203 against Ohtani. However, he underwent Tommy John surgery after the 2018 season and did not pitch last season. After rehab, Ohtani is cleared to pitch in 2020 and it is believed that he’s an important part of the Angels rotation.
Unfortunately, he only pitched 1.2 innings in 2 starts and Ohtani was not at his best. Is there anything worth noticing? What went wrong with Ohtani?
Ohtani relies on 4 pitches, 4-seamer, slider, split finger and curve. He threw almost the same amount of splitters as sliders in his first season. However, he didn’t throw many splitters in the first game of this season. In the second start, he used his splitters more.
Pitch velocity may somehow tell us why Ohtani struggled this season. His 4-seamer’s average velocity in the first game was only 92.9 mph and went up to 94.9 mph in the second start. He probably needs a couple of games to warm up. In 2 starts in 2020, his slider and splitter are slower than these 2 pitches in 2018.
Ohtani’s pitches spun more in the second game this season. In particular, the spin rate of his curveball in the second game reached 2787 rpm. His splitter’s average spin rate went to over 1600 rpm.
In the first 2 games this season, Ohtani’s command is really needed to improve. He only threw 40 strikes in 80 pitches and gave up 8 walks. In 2018, Ohtani gave up 22 walks in 51.2 innings.
Ohtani’s splitter is one of his great weapons to fool hitters and create a lot of swings and misses. We see that there was 0 swing and miss in the first game. In his second game, his pitches did create some swings and misses in 1.2 innings.
Ohtani, in his return from Tommy John surgery, has not pitched as Angels’ front office and coaches expected. His fastball velocity has not reached his highest level in 2018. His curveball hasn’t created any swings and misses so far this season. Meanwhile, his slider and splitter are not as effective as in 2018. After the second start of the 2020 season, he has been diagnosed with forearm/ elbow injury and will probably miss the remainder of the season as a pitcher. But he can still be a designated hitter in the Angels lineup. It’s definitely not the result that Angels’ front office would like to see. However, it might be better to not risk Ohtani’s elbow again in this short season. There’s no doubt that Ohtani is a great two-way player and he can dominate on the mound. But we saw injuries cause some pitchers to derail their careers, for example, Darren Dreifort from the Los Angeles Dodgers. Los Angeles Angels have to be very careful of one of their best players.
Until next pitching showtime.
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