Los Angeles Angels Ohtani Shohei (29) has been showing ups and downs on the mound recently.
On the 3rd (Korean time), Ohtani started the game against the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park, Texas, USA, and recorded a loss with 9 hits (2 homers) and 1 walk in 6 innings, striking out 6 and allowing 5 runs. At bat, he batted first and went 0-for-4 with one walk. 토토사이트
MLB.com, the official major league media outlet, said, “Ohtani seemed to be returning to normal. However, in today’s game, familiar problems surfaced again as he struggled to catch the batter even with two strikes and allowed two home runs,” he pointed out Ohtani’s recent sluggishness.
With 2 strikes and 5 hits, Ohtani’s ERA for the season rose to 3.30. Ohtani said, “I think it’s because of the pitch selection and control that I couldn’t do,” and said, “I feel like the momentum would have come to us if I had struck out more. However, the game did not work out that way.”
MLB.com said, “Ohtani, who won the American League MVP in 2021, recorded an average ERA of 0.64 in the first five games, but allowed 8 homers in 25 innings in the following four games and suffered a sluggish ERA of 6.12. After adjusting the sweeper, the problem seemed to have been resolved by fighting well with 1 run in 6 innings in both Minnesota and Miami, but against Houston, he scored 5 runs, the most in the season,” he explained Ohtani’s sluggishness.
Ohtani is taking a very high percentage of sweepers this season. In the game that day, out of 107 pitches, the sweeper had the highest rate with 38 pitches (36%). However, the miss rate was not high at 19%. Against Jordan Alvarez, the sweeper went into the middle and allowed a home run.
Manager Phil Nevin said, “It’s a good sweeper, but you shouldn’t throw another misfire after another. The second mistake is not easily missed by batters. I threw it on a bad course. We also need to discuss pitch selection.”
However, Ohtani’s trust in Sweeper remains the same. Manager Nevin said, “If you look at Ohtani Sweeper’s swing rate and hit rate, it is surprising in a good way. Out of 145 swings, only 4 were hits. Just 3 of those 4 hits were home runs. It is one of the best pitches in the major leagues. I wish I could see the numbers. He emphasized that Ohtani’s sweeper is still a powerful pitch.