Can Shohei Ohtani find it in NLCS? At-bat quality

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Can Shohei Ohtani find it in NLCS? At-bat quality | College News


When Shohei Ohtani was requested about his woeful efficiency at the plate in the Dodgers’ National League Division Series against the Philadelphia Phillies last week, he first gave credit to the opposition.

Then, after a sequence that noticed the Phillies counter him with one left-handed pitcher after the next, he was also fast to level out that he wasn’t alone.

“It was pretty difficult for left-handed hitters,” Ohtani said in Japanese amid the Dodgers’ clubhouse celebration following their Game 4 victory. “This was also the case for Freddie [Freeman].”

The Phillies did certainly make life powerful on the Dodgers’ best lefty bats.

Freeman was only three for 15 in the sequence, albeit with a key Game 2 double and a .294 on-base-percentage.

Max Muncy was 4 for 9 in the sequence, but spent most of it ready on the bench, not getting a start in any of the three contests the Phillies had a southpaw on the mound.

And as a workforce, the Dodgers hit just .199 with 41 strikeouts in the four-game sequence.

However, no one’s struggles have been as pronounced as Ohtani’s — the soon-to-be four-time MVP winner, who in the NLDS regarded like something but.

Ohtani struck out in each of his first 4 at-bats in Game 1. He didn’t get his first hit until grounding an RBI single through the infield in the seventh inning of Game 2.

After that, Ohtani’s only other time reaching base safely was when the Phillies deliberately walked him in the seventh inning of Game 4.

His remaining stat line from the sequence: One for 18, 9 strikeouts and a entire lot of questions about what went unsuitable.

Ohtani, who was coming off a three-hit, two-homer wild-card spherical, did acknowledge Thursday evening that “there were at-bats that didn’t go the way I thought they would.”

But, he rapidly added: “The opposing pitchers didn’t make many mistakes. They pitched wonderfully, in a way that’s worthy for the postseason. There were a lot of games like that for both teams.”

The real query popping out of the sequence was about the foundation trigger of Ohtani’s sudden struggles.

Was it merely because of the powerful pitching matchups, having confronted a lefty in 12 of his 20 journeys to the plate? Or had his faltering strategy created more official issues, the type that may threaten to continue into the NL Championship Series?

“I think a lot of it actually was driven by the left-handed pitching,” supervisor Dave Roberts said Saturday, as the Dodgers awaited to face either the Chicago Cubs or Milwaukee Brewers in an NLCS that will start on Monday.

However, the supervisor also put the onus on his $700-million celebrity to be better.

“Hoping that he can do a little self-reflecting on that series, and how aggressive he was outside of the strike zone, passive in the zone,” Roberts said. “The at-bat quality needs to get better.”

For the Dodgers, the implications are stark.

“We’re not gonna win the World Series with that sort of performance,” Roberts continued. “So we’re counting on a recalibration, getting back into the strike zone.”

From the very first at-bat of Game 1 — when he was also the beginning pitcher in his first profession playoff recreation as a two-way participant — Ohtani struggled to make the precise swing selections.

He chased three pitches off the inside of the plate from Phillies lefty Cristopher Sánchez, which Roberts felt “kinda set the tone” for his series-long struggles, then took a called third strike the next two occasions he confronted him.

From there, the 31-year-old slugger may never appear to dial back into his strategy.

He went down trying again in Game 1 against left-handed reliever Matt Strahm. He led off Game 2 with another strikeout against another lefty in JesĂşs Luzardo. On and on it went, with Ohtani persevering with to chase inside junk, flailing at pitches that darted off the plate the other means, and discovering his only reprieve in a rematch with Strahm in Game 2 when he bought just enough on an inside sinker.

Roberts’ hope was that, transferring ahead, Ohtani would give you the chance to study and modify.

“Understanding when he faces left-handed pitching, what they’re gonna try to do: Crowd him in, off, spin him away,” Roberts said. “He’s just gotta be better at managing the hitting zone. I’m counting on it. We’re all counting on it.”

Roberts also conceded that Ohtani’s at-bats on the day he pitched in Game 1 appeared to be particularly rushed.

“[When] he’s pitching, he’s probably trying to conserve energy, not trying to get into at-bats,” Roberts said. “It hasn’t been good when he’s pitched. I do think that’s part of it. We’ve got to think through this and come up with a better game plan.”

After all, while Ohtani may not have been the only struggling hitter in the NLDS, his significance to the lineup is bigger than anybody’s. The Dodgers can only endure without him for so long.


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