Los Angeles Angels’ Shohei Ohtani (29) has been up and down on the mound lately. 토토사이트
Ohtani started a game against the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park in Texas, USA, on 3 March, giving up five runs on nine hits (two home runs) with one walk and six strikeouts in six innings. At the plate, he batted leadoff and went 1-for-4 with a walk.
According to MLB.com, “Ohtani appeared to be getting back on track. But familiar problems resurfaced in this game, as he struggled to get batters out on two strikes and allowed two home runs,” pointing to his recent struggles.
The five hits with two strikes raised his season ERA to 3.30. “I think it’s because of my pitch selection and pitches that I wasn’t able to control,” said Ohtani, who lamented, “I feel like if I had more strikeouts, the momentum would have gone our way, but it didn’t work out that way.”
According to MLB.com, “Ohtani, the 2021 American League MVP, posted a 0.64 ERA in his first five starts before slumping to a 6.12 ERA in the next four, allowing eight homers in 25 innings. After adjusting his sweeper, he pitched six innings of one-run ball in his last two starts against Minnesota and Miami and appeared to have solved the problem, but he gave up a season-high five runs again against Houston.”
Ohtani has been throwing a very high percentage of sweepers this season. In this game, he threw 38 pitches (36%) out of 107 pitches, the highest percentage, but his swinging strike rate was not as high at 19%. Against Jordan Alvarez, he allowed a home run on a sweeper up the middle.
“It’s a good sweeper, but you can’t throw a bad pitch and then another bad pitch. Hitters don’t miss the second one very often. He threw it down a bad path. We should also discuss the choice of pitches.”
Nevertheless, the trust in Ohtani’s sweeper remains. “If you look at his swing rate and his strikeout rate, it’s amazing in a good way,” Nevin said. Out of 145 swings, only four were hits. It just so happens that three of those four were home runs. One of the best pitches in the major leagues. I wish I could see the numbers. A few pitches went for strikes,” he said, emphasising that Ohtani’s sweeper is still a powerful pitch.