At the beginning of this past offseason, the focus of all 30 Major League teams was on wooing Japanese star Shohei Ohtani, who was posted by the Nippon-Ham Fighters.
Ohtani quickly narrowed his list down to seven teams, and eventually wound up joining the American League by signing the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. The decision in part was due to their willingness to give him the opportunity to both hit and pitch.
So far this spring, the experiment has not gone as planned as the 23-year-old has struggled greatly on both sides of the ball. Ohtani is 3-for-28 (.107 batting average) at the plate, and has yielded nine hits and eight earned runs in 2.2 innings (27.00 ERA) on the mound in Cactus League play.
Ohtani has also pitched and hit in several Minor League games on the back fields, and reports from those suggest the results have not been much better.
Despite Ohtani’s struggles, a fellow Japanese player, Los Angeles Dodgers starter Kenta Maeda, believes that he will right the ship, via J.P. Hoornstra of the Southern California News Group:
“I’m sure he’ll be fine,” Maeda said of Ohtani. “He’ll make those adjustments that he needs and he’ll be OK.
Many throughout baseball believe Ohtani could use some time in the Minors to adjust to the game and get his confidence up. But the Angels have already made it clear their plan is to start him on the mound every sixth day and at designated hitter around three times a week to begin the season.
Pitching will eventually be Ohtani’s calling card though, so the Angels’ main focus will be on getting him right on the mound. It’s factored into why they are starting him every six days as opposed to every fifth to ease him into the adjustment that all Japanese pitchers, including Maeda, had to make when coming over to the Majors.
