Yankees? Twins? Rangers?
Next year or end up waiting 2 more years?
Wish the Dodgers had a chance. There are also some injury concerns with his injury riddled season this year--but at the relatively "low cost" its not like youre burning 100 million + on him.

https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/mlb-hot-stove-shohei-otanis-extremely-complicated-free-agency-process-explained/

https://sportsday.dallasnews.com/texas-rangers/rangers/2017/11/10/japanese-team-agrees-allow-rangers-target-shohei-otani-use-posting-system

https://sports.yahoo.com/shohei-otani-reportedly-hires-us-agent-bringing-even-closer-mlb-move-171905802.html

https://www.fanragsports.com/why-shohei-otani-no-brainer-for-yankees/

putting money in all the wrong places

and this pie in the sky thing about getting yu and otani


smh

Now we turn our attention toward Giancarlo and leverage our finances.

But we're still alive, baby!

Having to give prospects to increase poool money. At least they got Gordon out of the deal.

For most teams the front end risk of trading pieces away for pool money is the big risk with Ohtani.

What he will actually get paid in salary is pennies compared to what he would make in an open market bidding process

how they gonna score him?

Otani the pitcher and Otani the hitter. You can draft either (or both) but each version only gets credit for the scoring categories of his version.

(to answer my question, espn hasn't yet decided how scoring will change or if there will be changes atall)

Eric Karabell
ESPN Senior Writer

Shohei Ohtani has incredible potential as a two-way MLB player, but how should fantasy players value him ahead of the 2018 season?
There’s every reason for Los Angeles Angels fans and fantasy managers to be intrigued and excited about Japanese import Shohei Ohtani due to the endless statistical possibilities. The problem is many of these possibilities for the 2018 season seem unrealistic. A Cy Young-caliber starting pitcher and an awesome, middle-of-the-order power hitter all in one player? Where do I sign up?

Fantasy managers want to rewrite the rules on how such a player could alter the sport. Hey, I’m as optimistic as the next person, but when someone asks me how to value the newest Japanese import for double duty, something unprecedented in modern baseball, my answer is pretty simple: It won’t be me finding out.

Pick the winner of all 41 bowl games this year in ESPN's Capital One Bowl Mania game and win $1,000,000! Play Now for Free!
As colleague Tristan H. Cockcroft informed with expert aplomb, Ohtani, 23, has to overcome several hurdles to warrant the lofty attention and list of comparable options he’s getting. One, he needs to stay healthy, no small feat considering he missed most of last season with ankle and hamstring injuries. Two, the Angels actually need to present him substantial at-bats to make it worth any fantasy manager’s while to consider him an asset on the hitting side, and then Ohtani has to prove he can hit like an everyday option. This sport isn’t exactly easy, you should know.

Ohtani is a potential ace hurler but hasn’t shown durability, and at the plate he hasn’t faced top pitching on any consistent basis. Frankly, I’m just viewing him as a pitcher and he should be a good one, as Cockcroft notes, capable of high strikeout totals and solid run-prevention tools. It’s a sloppy comparison based mainly on where they come from, but Yu Darvish comes to mind as a comparison. Darvish strikes hitters out and has had varying degrees of success in staying healthy and suppressing runs. Darvish also came to the Texas Rangers ready for 200 innings of work. Ohtani has never approached this figure and the Angels haven’t shared much on how they intend to use him. Will he get as many as 150 innings?

In an era in which 200-inning pitchers are becoming more rare by the season -- only 15 pitchers made it in 2017 -- fantasy managers should indeed lower expectations for volume in general, without missing out on upside. It is certainly possible Ohtani is special and dominates a new league of hitters for 25-plus starts, which would perhaps land him among the top-10 fantasy pitchers. Let’s grant that is plausible. Darvish didn’t do that in his first MLB season, though. His ERA was 3.90 and he didn’t carry the physical burden of hitting on even a semi-regular basis.

Cockcroft’s current top-300 rankings for 2018 lists fellow right-handers Jake Arrieta, Gerrit Cole and Aaron Nola as top-20 caliber pitchers, and each is a more proven, statistical commodity, and two of them and perhaps three -- Arrieta is a free agent, as of Monday -- pitch in the National League. Moving further down the rankings Kyle Hendricks, Jose Berrios and countryman Masahiro Tanaka are top-30 options. I agree with Cockcroft that Ohtani belongs in this class of fantasy assets based on the strikeout upside, and I’m more willing than perhaps ever to take chances on starting pitchers likely to fall short of even 175 innings, but obvious question marks remain.

Angels manager Mike Scioscia claims Ohtani will earn every chance to contribute at the plate and perhaps that’s even possible, but this is hardly a manager known as an out-of-the-box thinker. Ohtani would need to serve as the team’s designated hitter, which pushes statue-like Albert Pujols to first base. Perhaps Scioscia doesn’t think such a move will harm the defense. Perhaps he also couldn’t give a hoot about analytics and how they’re helpful. Ohtani might out-hit Pujols -- not a high bar there -- but it’s unlikely he gets the chance on a regular basis. And as Keith Law noted, Ohtani is far from a guarantee at the plate.


It’s exciting that Ohtani went against conventional wisdom in not only rushing to the major leagues -- and costing himself literally millions of dollars in the eager process -- and in choosing the organization that he did, but reaching up to the fifth or sixth round for a pitcher that only might stay healthy and seems unlikely to provide hitting value seems silly to me. Yes, Ohtani is the new prize for fantasy managers to dream about and there’s always going to be someone in a league willing to pay up for the hotshot rookie that hasn’t failed yet in the major leagues. Ohtani could be great. He could throw an amazing 175 innings and hit like an All-Star, in theory.

I just find it dangerous to rely on theories when selecting options for fantasy teams. How many other hitters with little promise of regular at-bats are you targeting? How many starting pitchers that have yet to approach 170 innings are you targeting? And while ESPN hasn’t announced how such a player will or even can be handled for fantasy purposes, it’s kind of irrelevant for me. Let someone else pay too much in a draft or auction for a pitcher -- not a hitter -- that hasn’t earned a top-100 spot yet. Frankly, I can’t wait to see him pitch and hit, but the former remains far from guaranteed and the latter is, taking context of volume into account, mostly a dream at this point.

He showed some filth today, aside from a bad second inning.

He’s gonna have ups and downs this season, but the potential isbthere

Hitting-wise, I can only speak for game one. After hitting the first pitch he saw, and looked pretty lost the rest of the game.

As far today, he looked nasty in the first, but very rough in the second. But hey, he didn't allow a hit afterwards, and made some hitters look very bad while striking out.

I agree he'll be up and down. I doubt he'll end up in the minor league, but I'm sure if it will all be smooth sailing this year.

and he was throwing easy gas, fastball velocity averaged 97.8 mph and he hit 99 several times + touched 100 on one. he's got legit ace stuff.

This looked fun

https://mobile.twitter.com/FoxSportsWest/status/981363392475676672?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet

https://www.theringer.com/mlb/2018/4/4/17200518/shohei-ohtani-corey-kluber-home-run

Granted, dude smartly points back to his own piece from a week ago worrying over whether Ohtani could cut it at all. But he also titled this piece "it's impossible to overreact" to this situation despite the fact nobody was running wild with speculation over Bumgarner hitting two in a single game on opening day last year.


I tuned into this game specifically for his second plate appearance and loved witnessing that home run, so I'm definitely all in on the Ohtani experience, but I hope every achievement of his doesn't result in some blustery, kinda pointless article about it. I hope every failure doesn't, either.


(I know both will.)


~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

Trust me, it doesn't take long for them to get a book on you. By week three (if not sooner these days); teams will find the holes in your swing or tendencies. Some players can adjust, some cannot. We will see what type of player he is.


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

But this is a pitcher making a pitcher so shook he walked him on 4 pitches with bases loaded LMAO.

He can’t keep it up. He won’t keepnit up.

But man that swing is also a thing of beauty. Looks so effortless.

Can’t sleep on these Asians yo. They are hitting machines.

I love seeing a pitcher who can hit. I know they get big money to pitch but gotdamn, it’s baseball.. swing that bat like you want a hit.

Another pitcher and another bat? Man, that would be sweet.

hitting 100 on the gun w/ 7k....

10k.

11k.

1 hit - 1 bb - 12k.

maintained 99+ throughout.

Osssss

damn i just watched all the strikeouts

https://twitter.com/AlexPutterman/status/983115612137418753

.

Good piece about tempering expectations, the likelihood of ups and downs, but just enjoying the moment as a fan


http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/23132592/the-joy-ohtani-sleeping-giant-mlb-next-big-thing

The joy of Ohtani, a sleeping giant and MLB's next big thing
By Bradford Doolittle


Instead of wondering about what might hold Shohei Ohtani back, we should all be marveling about the two-way ride unfolding in front of our eyes.

Imagine a world in which Roy Hobbs exists.

This is about inimitable rookie sensation Shohei Ohtani, but let me make my point using the fictional Hobbs, the protagonist of the great baseball movie "The Natural" (Yes, it was a book first. A great book by Bernard Malamud. But the movie works best for our purposes.) Spoiler alert: Let's pretend Hobbs did not get shot by Barbara Hershey and manages to reach the majors, out of nowhere, as a flame-throwing, power-hitting young man.

Given what we know about him -- the unprecedented arm on the mound, the unmatchable power at the plate -- we would have a fictional character doing something similar to what Ohtani is doing right now. Ohtani is not the Japanese Babe Ruth. He's the Japanese Roy Hobbs.

Does that little bit of hype annoy you? If it does, I kind of feel sorry for you.


What we remember about Hobbs is that he was nearly destroyed by the cynical work of those around him. As if driven by a mania induced by a primordial version of social media, sportswriter Max Mercy was fixated on finding out where Hobbs came from, what his flaws were and where his skeletons lie.

The problem was that while the cynical Mercy recognized the beauty of it all, he couldn't accept it at face value: No, this kind of unique greatness just does not happen, so there must be something else at work.

Mercy has to dig, spread doubt, amplify the negative and, ultimately, aid those who would corrupt Hobbs. All in search of that something else. Why? So he can prove he was right all along.

When it comes to Ohtani, let's not be Max Mercy.

The range of outcomes for Ohtani remains vast. That's true of all young players, but it's more true for him because only a handful of players have ever possessed his diversity of gifts. Yet, he has faced only one team as a pitcher. He has less than a week's worth of plate appearances. We've seen the gifts on display -- the searing fastball, the diving splitter and the explosion off the bat when he barrels up a pitch. But what he has done so far has to replicated (or at least approached) many times over the span of many, many games before we can say he's the real thing.

Much could go wrong. Ohtani could get hurt, as he was last season in Japan. Teams could learn to lay off his splitter and focus on jumping on his slider. At the plate, he may struggle once a book on how to pitch him is established. Supertalented players have failed at this game before. It's the nature of the endeavor, and it remains far too early to draw any firm conclusions about Ohtani.

Still, there is an aspect to the coverage of Ohtani that is hard to fathom. Ever since he signed with the Los Angeles Angels over the winter, it feels like there has been as much written and said about what he can't, shouldn't and might not be able to do as about his fantastical possibilities. He has been scrutinized like few rookies in recent memory, for good reason. Nevertheless, Ohtani has risen above it all so far.

No matter what happens from here, Ohtani has already done things we have never seen. Even Babe Ruth never had an eight-day stretch when he won two games as a starter and hit three home runs at the plate. Ohtani accomplished that within the first 10 games of his career. He has struck out 18 batters, walked two and leads the majors with a 0.462 WHIP. The WHIP figure ranks fourth all time among players with at least 13 innings pitched. At the plate, he has an OPS+ of 236. No one with a minimum of Ohtani's 29 plate appearances has a better career mark. No one! Chew on that combination of numbers for a minute.

Sure, this can be true only because Ohtani is at the very beginning of his journey, but that's kind of the point. Let's not harp on that fact that this level of production almost certainly won't last. Let's not overscrutinize what might emerge as flaws in his skill set. Let's not worry about whether a big league player in the 21st century can withstand the rigors of pulling double duty for a full season. Can't we just enjoy it while it lasts?

Roy Hobbs was not a real person. But as long as Ohtani is doing what he's doing, let's pretend The Natural has finally come to life.

https://deadspin.com/fragile-rookie-shohei-ohtani-unable-to-overcome-dominan-1825164683

Leads of Angels scoring with a 2 out RBI single.

ends up 1-3 with a BB

https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/angels-phenom-shohei-ohtani-wants-the-team-to-play-him-more/


I actually like the every Sunday pitching routine for the foreseeable future. Maybe Id ramp him up a bit more to get ready for pitching in the playoffs...but I guess by then you can also argue you wouldnt want to burn him out for playoffs. If the Angels continue to playt well, no real reason to up his workload

As long as he's hitting this way, id hit him more...vs lefties, maybe just rest him days before starts.

They said he needed as much exposure as possible because his hitting was behind his pitching.

https://mobile.twitter.com/JeffPassan/status/984618459672858624

Playing same time as Bron, GOAT of another sport

He'll throw Tuesday in California in less awful conditions

Wonder what means for the Giants next Sunday or if it pushes him to a matchup with the Astros

Where will you get a chance?

shpuld be fun

Ill try and stay up and watch a few innings

And mookie led off the game with a HR after a 7 pitch AB

I think he threw 30 pitches that first inning. Lucky to get out with 1 rub

In terms of score it couldve been a lot worse than 3 runs.


His velocity was there but he had so little control. Lots of balls in the dirt or just way out of the zone. He had a couple nice pitches, but I hardly saw the splitter yesterday.

In 2 innings he through 69 pitches. Got to full count like 6 times. Interested to see if he'll be in the lineup Sunday.

He dint pitch super well, but wouldbe gotten the win if the Angels held on.

He threw 2 101 mph pitches which puts him on a short list of guys that have done it in recent decades (in the same game).

The blister didnt seem to be bothering him as much, but the splitter still wasnt hitting its spot.

When he just has to rely on that FB, as good as it is....guys can take it for a ride when the connect.


I mean this shit right here...

https://streamable.com/pv33r

https://www.reddit.com/r/baseball/comments/8fh2pz/shohei_ohtani_pulls_it_to_right_for_his_4th_hr_of/?st=JGISA7UE&sh=4e1abb12

talking about the kid?

https://deadspin.com/shohei-ohtanis-starting-to-reveal-all-his-powers-1826005968

Just K'ing everybody, was relieved when the Twins were able to get one.

More nastiness today

https://www.mlb.com/cut4/shohei-ohtanis-splitter-is-absolutely-devastating/c-277619126

fastest pitch by a starter this year

https://www.mlb.com/news/shohei-ohtani-throws-fastest-pitch-for-starter/c-279061544

https://twitter.com/LAAngelsPR/status/1005162630338600960

Shohei Ohtani will be placed on the disabled list with a grade 2 sprain of the UCL. He underwent a PRP and Stem Cell injection yesterday with Dr. Steve Yoon in Los Angeles. He will be re-evaluated in 3 weeks and we will update his plan of care at that time.

that really sucks

I know the UCL has been an ongoing issue-- but is it weird that it flared up after a week off. Were they not monitoring and if so, why didnt they just move his start?

but how did he have a whole week off, go through bullpen sessions and then have the blister develop that quick in that game?

https://www.mlb.com/news/shohei-ohtani-stars-at-hitting-to-center-field/c-285018386

Invite the man to the derby

Mods can I get that edit on his name in the original al post though, lol

https://www.latimes.com/sports/angels/story/2021-04-27/angels-shohei-ohtani-ruthian-two-way-journey-began-japan-joe-maddon

By DYLAN HERNÁNDEZ COLUMNIST
APRIL 27, 2021 7:57 AM PT

Years ago, when I visited Shohei Ohtani’s high school alma mater in the northern part of the Japanese mainland, baseball coach Hiroshi Sasaki mentioned that he instructs his pitchers to swim as part of their workouts.

Ohtani was a particularly fast swimmer, Sasaki told me.

How fast?

“The swimming coach here said he could have made the Olympics,” Sasaki said.

I laughed politely.

I didn’t include the quote in the 2,800-plus word story I filed from Japan, but, in retrospect, I should have. Sasaki probably wasn’t kidding.

Ohtani really can do just about anything.

Bunt, even.

In a 9-4 win over the Texas Rangers on Monday night, Ohtani threw a baseball 99 mph and also hit one 114 mph. He was charged with four runs while battling command problems in a 29-pitch first inning, but blanked the Rangers over the following four to earn his first win in 1,072 days.

Offensively, he scored three runs and drove in two more on a second-inning double. And with the infield shifted to the right in the fifth inning, he bunted down the third-base line for one of his two hits.


“Pretty complete game of baseball,” Angels manager Joe Maddon said.

Asked if he knew whether Ohtani practiced bunting, Maddon replied, “I have no idea.”

So, evidently, his ability to do so properly was also news to his manager.

But the people watching Ohtani aren’t the only ones learning about the once-in-a-century talent, who became the first pitcher to start a game while at least sharing the league lead in home runs since Babe Ruth in 1921.


Ohtani is also making discoveries about himself, about the extent of his gifts.

“Until now, to some degree, it was decided I would rest on days before I pitched,” Ohtani said. “So it’s the first time it’s been like this.”

Maddon has gone against the conventional wisdom of the time, which is to handle talented players as if they’re made of glass, and removed the usage restrictions designed to keep Ohtani healthy.

“Well, he came here for a reason,” Maddon said. “He was signed to do two things, as far as I can remember. So why would you go out, recruit the guy, bring him in for a specific purpose, and not permit him to try to do that? That makes no sense to me.”



In the short-term, at least, the approach has benefitted Ohtani. He has gained confidence in his durability to where he’s telling Maddon not only that he can hit on days he pitches, as he did Monday, but also the days before and after. Ohtani played in left field over the weekend, which he volunteered to do because the Angels’ bench was depleted.

He’s basically now an everyday player who pitches every six or seven days.

Rather than diminish his production, the increased workload has enhanced it. His seven homers are tied for the most in the American League. He’s tied for fifth in the entire majors in runs and sixth in runs batted in.

His personality has emerged in the process. He pointed in the air after his last home run. He’s stared down an opposing pitcher who struck him with a pitch.

When he was in the middle of everything Monday, it was almost expected.

“Why would you go out, recruit the guy, bring him in for a specific purpose, and not permit him to try to do that? That makes no sense to me.”


“I had to put the hold sign on,” Maddon said. “He wanted to steal, too.”

Ohtani has batted in two of the three games he has pitched, each time marking a significant gamble on Maddon’s part. Once a pitcher bats, his team forfeits the designated hitter. The rule adds to Ohtani’s sense of responsibility to remain in the game as long as possible.

“There is pressure, of course,” Ohtani said.

But Ohtani responded to that. He found his control after the rocky first inning and was never threatened again. He finished with nine strikeouts.

This isn’t the first time Ohtani has taken on extra responsibilities and thrived.


When he was a senior at Hanamaki Higashi High School, Japanese professional teams wanted him as a hitter. Major league teams viewed him as a pitcher.

As the 18-year-old Ohtani deliberated his future, the Nippon Professional Baseball team that won his draft rights offered him an alternative: to be a two-way player.

This is important to note, how the idea of Ohtani playing both ways was the Nippon-Ham Fighters’ and not Ohtani’s, just as how the idea to remove the imaginary bubble wrap from Ohtani was Maddon’s and not Ohtani’s.

And similar to how he surprised the Fighters back then, he’s surprising the Angels now. The guess here is that he’s also surprising himself.

Such is the enormity of his tale.

he was questionable with the blister that developed, but hes batting 2nd tonight

I feel like he ws 1-13 or something the rest of the week -- with one of those hits being HR #8.

Actually just looked it up. Last week he was 4-22 with 1 HR

Yesterday he did get HBP and stole two consecutive bases. He is tied for 5th in the MLB for stolen bases with 6 (also leads the Angels)

He may not pitch tonight because of that HBP to his elbow.

119 run
130 RBIs
38 doubles
11 triples
54 Hrs
32 Sb

.273/.322/.645/.967. 165 OPs+


101IP
2.41 ERA
1.39 WHIP
103 BB
162 K
113/.333/.161/.495 against 181 ERAs+


Pace is a funny thing. Lots of stuff has to happen here to hit these numbers including staying healthy, but a lot of people would probably say he’s not even playing his best baseball yet on either side of the ball.

If he was anywhere near these could you deny him an MVP even if the angels keep sucking? It’d be such a historic season.

>119 run
>130 RBIs
>38 doubles
>11 triples
>54 Hrs
>32 Sb
>
>.273/.322/.645/.967. 165 OPs+
>
>
>101IP
>2.41 ERA
>1.39 WHIP
>103 BB
>162 K
>113/.333/.161/.495 against 181 ERAs+
>
>
>Pace is a funny thing. Lots of stuff has to happen here to hit
>these numbers including staying healthy, but a lot of people
>would probably say he’s not even playing his best baseball
>yet on either side of the ball.
>
>If he was anywhere near these could you deny him an MVP even
>if the angels keep sucking? It’d be such a historic season.
>

Ohtani's out here playing Road to the Show this year


~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

MLB the Sho

Lol that one was in Anaheim. But yea… 459 ft dead center

On why he isn’t the GOAT in terms of skill using stats from 1922 along with Fox News Talking points

Lol he just got a small one this off-season. Isn’t eligible for another one

Ohtani is a once-in-a-century player in a year when we need to be awed, inspired and distracted. Comparing him to the Babe is no longer enough.

Ruth was a true two-way player only for a 218-game window—and not even he was as good as Ohtani while doing so.

https://www.si.com/mlb/2021/07/05/shohei-ohtani-is-better-than-babe-ruth-the-opener

Kid looks really good. Really athletic. More athletic than Ohtani.

More athletic than
>Ohtani.

Are we talking sprint speed? Vertical jump? Balance? Agility? Pitching skill?

There’s probably a number of players in the Mlb who are more athletic that Ohtani in those traditional senses.

Tatis comes to mind. Acuna? Marte?

But the combination of skill and athleticism and then being able to put it all together? I don’t know I can put anyone in that bucket of athleticism.

>More athletic than
>>Ohtani.
>
>Are we talking sprint speed? Vertical jump? Balance? Agility?
>Pitching skill?
>
>There’s probably a number of players in the Mlb who are more
>athletic that Ohtani in those traditional senses.
>
>Tatis comes to mind. Acuna? Marte?
>
>But the combination of skill and athleticism and then being
>able to put it all together? I don’t know I can put anyone
>in that bucket of athleticism.

>so that is 10 years...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62ZAFHXzoi4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZvR03Sbzbo
^^^
This version of Ohtani in his early 20s "looks" a lot more athletic than the current one because of how big he is now. Maybe its the bulkiness makes him look less athletic?

But I dunno....

His sprint speed and HB to 1st numbers still put him within top 10-15% of players

and less about the raw athleticism #'s but a big part of that is being able to put it altogether in performance

HRs #1
RBIS #3 (t)
Slg #1
OPS #1
Sbs #9 (t)
triples #6 (t)
Doubles #32 (t)

then his pitching stats....

https://youtu.be/aAD42KYikds

Even if he doesn't do it again...dude has left an indelible imprint on baseball.

And honestly, if he's in a lineup with a healthy Mike Trout and some other potent hitters, his numbers could be better on the mound and at the plate.

Either way, what a year.

I really hope Anaheim can get something going. When they win, they're such a fun squad. The Samurai home run helmet is the best.

can anybody explain to me why the team that has the two best baseball players in the world isn't very good and hasn't been?

baseball is the most "team" team sport IMO.

you can have the 2 best players, but if the guys around them are ass, and if the pitching is ass (especially this)?

you're not gonna win.

in other sports, its easier for 2 GOATS to will the team to win. in baseball, it's so much more than that.

"I (they) ain't really got shit else..." They're ULTRA top heavy and their run differential usually eats ass. They can't score enough runs and they come up off of way too many runs. Unless pitchers absolutely HAVE to, they just pitch around those two. Nobody in that line-up, outside of the obvious, scares anyone. (maaaybe add Brandon Drury). Add to that the staff is cheeks.

>"I (they) ain't really got shit else..." They're ULTRA top
>heavy and their run differential usually eats ass. They can't
>score enough runs and they come up off of way too many runs.
>Unless pitchers absolutely HAVE to, they just pitch around
>those two. Nobody in that line-up, outside of the obvious,
>scares anyone. (maaaybe add Brandon Drury). Add to that the
>staff is cheeks.


I think this team can make the playoffs. They cant win in the playoffs cause their bullpen sucks. My hope is that they win as much as possible while the Stros struggle with Altuve out-- and get a cushion. This is the most life Rendon has ever shown as an Angel.

Hopefully that cushion is enough for Arte to invest and buy pitching at the deadline and gives them a shot to compete.

Hes gonna have to pay to keep Ohtani (by building a competitive team) and then hes gonna have to pay double/triple/quadruple to actually keep Ohtani this summer. Not sure if he has the appetite for it, but some team out there does.

>Hes gonna have to pay to keep Ohtani (by building a
>competitive team) and then hes gonna have to pay
>double/triple/quadruple to actually keep Ohtani this summer.
>Not sure if he has the appetite for it, but some team out
>there does.

With the cash this Super Mario Movie is raking in, there MIGHT be a chance.

It’s some conglomerate of schlubs
~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

Nintendo is still a minority owner, and the last owners most fans remember, LOL.

most fans know who owns the team when it comes to most sports teams. i bet if you took a poll at a game, less than a third would be able get Baseball Club of Seattle.

Get Ichiro on the hardcore recruiting and you might be able to make it happen

it might be the main reason Ichiro is on the staff, who knows?

If you don’t have it, you ain’t winning jack..plus all the other tangibles like
positional defense and TEAM batting.

https://twitter.com/matttomic/status/1394498097254965249

every time I see an Angels highlight it's like "Mike Trout hit three homes runs and raised his average to .528 while Shohei Ohtani did something that hasn't been done since 'Tungsten Arm' O'Doyle of the 1921 Akron Groomsmen, as the Tigers defeated the Angels 8-3"

Tuesday, June 6, 2023
How Shohei Ohtani has gotten even better as a pitcher
By Alden Gonzalez

https://www.espn.com/mlb/insider/insider/story/_/id/37800286/shohei-ohtani-even-better-pitcher-los-angeles-angels


ANAHEIM, Calif. -- It's largely forgotten by now, trampled by the overwhelming success that followed, but Shohei Ohtani's introduction as a major league pitcher was dreadful.

He allowed nine runs and recorded eight outs over the course of two Cactus League starts in the spring of 2018, plus another six runs in an unofficial exhibition game against a Mexican League team. But what was most concerning to Martin Maldonado, the Los Angeles Angels' starting catcher at the time, was his velocity. A celebrated two-way player who was hailed for throwing his fastball into the triple digits couldn't eclipse the low 90s when he first arrived in the United States.

Maldonado, now with the Houston Astros, found comfort through Ohtani's batting-practice rounds.

"The ball was usually jumping off his bat," Maldonado recalled, "so I said, 'If pitching doesn't work, he can always just play left field or DH in the big leagues.'"

That, of course, wasn't ultimately necessary. Ohtani adjusted to a slicker baseball and a steeper mound, escaped the dry air of Arizona and looked like a different person when the games began to count, pitching effectively for two-plus regular-season months before a damaged ulnar collateral ligament necessitated Tommy John surgery. In an instant, he seemed to make believers out of everybody.

"He got used to the league, got used to what he needs to do to get better," Maldonado said. "But I feel like every year he's learning and getting better and better."

And that's part of what's so fascinating about Ohtani -- he's an unprecedented talent with noticeable room for improvement, particularly on the pitching side.

Consider: When the 2021 season began and Ohtani started to navigate a two-way role on a regular basis, he was coming off a four-year stretch in which he compiled only 79 2/3 innings as a pitcher (as a hitter, meanwhile, he made 1,198 plate appearances). The last time he had pitched for something that closely resembled a full season, he was a 21-year-old in Japan, still figuring out what he would become on a mound.

Since then he has added new pitches and tinkered with the shape of old ones. He has brought more life to his fastball and maximized the depth of his slider. He has learned to recover from early command issues and mastered the art of saving his best for last. From 2021 to 2022, Ohtani's ERA dropped from 3.18 to 2.33. This year, he has been one of the toughest pitchers in the majors to hit, even while battling occasional bouts of bewildering wildness.

"He can walk basically as many people as he wants and it doesn't matter," fellow Angels starter Patrick Sandoval said, "because guys aren't going to really hit anyone in."

Ohtani leads the majors in wild pitches and hit batters, but he's also leading the American League in strikeout percentage and has allowed the lowest opponents' batting average in the sport. He has been navigating through a 43-inning stretch in which he has been charged with 24 earned runs, and yet he's 5-2 with a 3.30 ERA, as usual part of the Cy Young discussion.

Below, the three biggest reasons for Ohtani's pitching success.


He has an extra gear
Sometimes Ohtani just gets angry.

A prominent example occurred on April 27, against the hapless Oakland Athletics. Ohtani had allowed only two runs in 31 innings to begin the season when the fourth inning began on this Thursday afternoon at Angel Stadium. Then came a nightmarish six-batter stretch: hit by pitch, wild pitch, walk, home run, hit by pitch, wild pitch, home run, double. Ohtani, practically unhittable leading up to that point, had quickly blown a five-run lead against the worst team in the sport.

He harnessed his frustration against those who followed, suffocating the next four hitters with a mix of devastating sweepers and triple-digit fastballs. Ohtani went on to retire nine of the next 11 batters, earning the win and coming only a few feet short of hitting for the cycle.

"He wants to be perfect," Angels manager Phil Nevin said. "He wants to be great, and he is, so when those innings happen, it frustrates him."

Ohtani's stuff is always overwhelming, but he seems to leave a little in reserve for when the moments demand it. His average four-seam-fastball velocity with nobody on or a runner on first base is 97 mph -- and it jumps to 98.5 mph with runners in scoring position, a sizable bump that has helped him go from averaging 5.67 innings per start in 2021 to 5.93 from 2022 to 2023.

In the late innings, with the finish line in sight, he becomes even more effective. Opposing hitters have a .912 OPS when they see Ohtani a second time, the fourth-highest mark in the majors in that situation. The third time through the order, though, that OPS drops down to .460, a whopping 262 points lower than the league average -- at a time when it seems as if the entire industry is scared to leave pitchers in that long.

As a hitter, Ohtani's OPS against opposing pitchers a third time: 1.193.


He throws so many pitches

The PitchCom device Ohtani wears just above his left elbow has nine buttons dedicated to communicating specific pitches to his catcher.

Ohtani essentially throws 11, which means two of them require a combination.

Ohtani was a four-pitch pitcher when he debuted in the major leagues, relying primarily on his four-seam fastball, slider and splitter while occasionally mixing in a curveball. He has since added a cutter and a sinker, but that's only part of it. He throws at least two different types of sliders, one of which is famously classified as a sweeper. And he frequently varies the velocity and manipulates the shape on most of his pitches. Ohtani has thrown 27 cutters 92 mph and above this season and 26 others that traveled less than 88 mph. The vertical break on his curveball has varied by about 20 inches. Those are just a couple of examples. He threw a pitch 68.1 mph on April 21 and another one 101.2 mph on April 27.

"He's constantly able to tinker with his pitches and see a pitch and be like, 'Oh I want to throw that,'" Sandoval said. "He takes a bullpen session and he's already got the pitch. Pretty crazy."

Ohtani's devastating splitter had been a clear third pitch every year until now, when the sinker and cutter have jumped ahead of it. The sweeper is Ohtani's clear preference on two-strike counts, but he has gone to the fastball about 28% of the time and the splitter 16% of the time. The cutter and sinker have made more than a handful of appearances, as well. It's simply too much for hitters to account for, especially when so many of those pitches can be thrown in various shapes.

"I think you just got to look into a zone and swing," A's infielder/outfielder Tony Kemp said. "You kind of just want to get him in an area that you're looking, and if it starts in a certain spot, then you got to go. It's tough to barrel up, but it's one of those things where you have to trust your process and trust what you're doing at the plate and not second-guess yourself."


He has mastered the sweeper

There's some debate as to the origins of Ohtani's sweeper, a slider iteration with more horizontal break that has become all the rage in the sport. Some of those within the Angels clubhouse believe Ohtani saw that pitch as a hitter at some point over these past couple of years, studied the metrics of it and wound up copying it (like he did the sinker thrown to him by New York Yankees closer Clay Holmes on Aug. 31 of last year).

Ohtani, extremely coy about the specifics of his pitches, has a different version of events.

"I've actually always been throwing it, ever since my days in Japan," he said through his interpreter. "I had a smaller slider and a bigger slider and I guess these days they just call it the sweeper. No one really taught me; I taught myself."

Whatever the genesis, Ohtani's sweeper -- the pitch he famously used to strike out teammate Mike Trout and end the World Baseball Classic -- stands as the primary reason for his growing dominance as a pitcher.

Ohtani's sweeper was the fifth-most valuable pitch in the majors from 2021 to 2022, according to Sports Info Solutions. This year, it has navigated an interesting path. Opposing hitters batted .063/.182/.083 against the sweeper during Ohtani's first five starts, managing just three hits and striking out 18 times in 48 at-bats. Over his next four starts, from April 27 to May 15, hitters suddenly began to slug .692 against it, unleashing five home runs -- one fewer than he allowed on that pitch in all of 2022 -- in just 39 at-bats.

After serving up two of those homers on May 15 in Baltimore -- another seven-inning start, another win and another day in which he almost hit for the cycle -- Ohtani acknowledged he needed to make some adjustments. In his next three starts -- a stretch in which he held the Minnesota Twins and the Miami Marlins to two earned runs in 12 innings, then allowed five runs in six innings against the Astros -- opposing hitters went 6-for-26 off Ohtani's sweeper, though one of them left for another home run.

Ohtani's sweeper is currently averaging 17 inches of horizontal break, 3 inches greater than last year and about the width of home plate. He throws it frequently in the mid-to-upper 80s, an uncommonly high velocity for that pitch, and he has used it to record 49 of his 96 strikeouts this season.

"Sometimes it comes out straight out of his hand and it's hard to see," Angels catcher Chad Wallach said. "You see some of the swings some guys have on it -- it's probably a foot and a half, two feet off the plate. And that's because it comes out dead straight and it looks like a fastball, and then it's just gone."

But I don’t remember a pitcher as good as him changing up their pitching arsenal so regularly. At first he seemed to bring new stuff out every new season, but now he changes his pitches throughout the season.

Where the fuck did this sweeper come from? He rarely uses that splitter that at one point was elite.

His main issue when he’s struggling is still his control and the number of guys he walks, but this dude can throw it all.

Extended his hit streak to 10 games
Got on base 5 times last night
Stole his 10th bag of the season to be the first 20HR 10 steal guy (add 100ks)
2 nights ago he hit a game tying Bomb off a low inside pitch, followed by a 12th inning 2run go ahead
- both with high level bat flips.

Exhibit a: https://mlb-cuts-diamond.mlb.com/FORGE/2023/2023-06/12/339f3315-23f565b0-103e5369-csvm-diamondx64-asset_1280x720_59_4000K.mp4

Exhibit b: https://www.reddit.com/r/baseball/comments/148yio5/61223_shohei_ohtani_hits_his_second_hr_of_the/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=1&utm_term=1


It’s still hard for me to say a baseball player may be the best athlete in the world. But shit, he’s gotta be top 5

So he’s #2 in strikeouts as a pitcher
#1 in Hrs as a hitter
Top 20 in sb

And his OPS is approaching 1000

I mean not only does he do stuff that is statistically unrivaled, there is also a level of physically impossible the dude can do...that deserves just as much shine.

He just hit another homerun last night with similar #'s ...(so two this week afte rit not happening for 7 years...)

https://twitter.com/CodifyBaseball/status/1669187942311657472
https://twitter.com/CodifyBaseball/status/1669181271094996992

https://twitter.com/Jared_Carrabis/status/1669177284023005185

https://twitter.com/Jared_Carrabis/status/1669177284023005185

https://twitter.com/BenVerlander/status/1669193515191107587

With the team winning and a lot of summer travel I only got to opening night and one other this year, but did about half his starts the last two years. I just cannot fathom how the guy is not an even bigger deal. It's like watching a created player in MLB the Show only he is fucking REAL.