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Angels pitcher Shohei Ohtani continued to struggle with his command on Monday, making his second intrasquad start on the mound in camp. But both Ohtani and manager Joe Maddon saw improvement in the outing.
From Rhett Bollinger at MLB.com:
“It was obviously much better, performance-wise and command-wise,” Ohtani said through interpreter Ippei Mizuhara via Zoom. “I worked on my slide-step and got some fielding in. I feel good overall. I’m not overly concerned about the four walks. A lot of walks I was ahead in the count and I wasn’t able to locate. I need to work on my mechanics with my secondary stuff. That’s what I’ll be focusing on.”
Fabian Ardaya at The Athletic tracked Ohtani’s outing on Monday, which included more balls thrown than strikes:
That should be it for Shohei Ohtani today. Unofficial numbers:
— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) July 13, 2020
3.1 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 4 BB (1 HBP), 1 K
60 pitches, 26 strikes.
Charted it here: pic.twitter.com/aXN6Tzy2AY
This follows Ohtani’s first outing of summer camp, last Tuesday when he walked seven of 10 batters faced.
Maddon didn’t sound too worried about the results, since this was an intrasquad game, after all. The time to work on things. From Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register:
“He was a little better than the last time,” Maddon said. “A little better command. Obviously there is another level for him. I thought it was a step forward. Overall it was a better performance. I still think once we get a real game going on, with or without fans, you’ll see another level for him.”
Ohtani did have this nifty strikeout in his outing on Monday:
Sho-K @Angels pic.twitter.com/5Xy336Eu9A
— FOX Sports West (@FoxSportsWest) July 13, 2020
Jo Adell also got Othani for a double:
Sho vs. Jo pic.twitter.com/aUMEEfhqXg
— Los Angeles Angels (@Angels) July 14, 2020
Links
- Anthony Castrovince ranked the top 10 lineups in baseball for MLB.com, and the Angels were rated 10th.
- FanGraphs introduced their positional power rankings for 2020. The first position scrutinized was first base, where the Angels ranked 29th out of 30 teams in expected production. “Albert Pujols is the best first baseman since Lou Gehrig according to JAWS, but that doesn’t make his decline any easier to watch, save for the occasional milestone,” wrote Jay Jaffe.
- Andrew Simon at MLB.com included Ohtani, the pitching side, anyway, among his seven returning players to watch after missing 2019.
- Rob Mains at Baseball Prospectus wrote about how injured lists in MLB this year will be anything but normal.