Shohei Ohtani struggling: Is it growing pains or more serious?
Billy Eppler refused to participate in the exercise. The Angels general manager saw no value in hypotheticals. He considered it “a waste of time and energy” to imagine a scenario in which Shohei Ohtani either failed to hit or to pitch at a quality level in the regular season and what would be done in reaction.
“I am not allowing my mind to go there,” Eppler said. “It is out of your control. You are spending energy on something that has not happened. It could. If it does, we’ll deal with it.”
Ninety minutes later, on a hot sunny Friday afternoon at Tempe Diablo Stadium, Ohtani started against the Tijuana Toros of the Mexican League and continued a spring training that only is going to foster more such questions and thoughts.
Ohtani not only lacked high-end velocity during three innings, hitting 95 mph a few times, but mainly settling in at 91-94 with command issues. He showed his terrific slider, but also plenty of hangers. In his third underwhelming Angels start, he induced an impressive 17 swings-and-misses, but also threw three wild pitches as former Mets catcher Rene Rivera had difficulty corralling balls in the dirt, in particular.
In all there were six runs in six innings on six hits against a lineup on which the most famous name was Jorge Cantu, who last played in the majors in 2011. Lefty Dustin Martin, batting third for the Toros, ambushed a first-pitch fastball for a homer in the first inning. If you remember that name, he was part of the package the Mets surrendered in July 2007 for Luis Castillo. Martin, a 26th-round pick in 2006, has never played in the majors.
For just about any other pitcher this all would have melted into the monotony of this time of year — and very well still might for Ohtani. But Ohtani, of course, is no ordinary pitcher, in part because he also is a hitter, a combination that makes him currently the most interesting man in baseball.
He spoke afterward about “taking the right steps forward,” but also adjusting to a spring training without days off, and with different mounds and a larger baseball than used in Japan. It is a reminder just how difficult what he is trying to do is. No player has regularly hit and pitched in the majors since Babe Ruth in 1919.
Ohtani is trying to do it at age 23. In a new league and new culture, surrounded by new teammates and large expectations. I assume 30 teams can’t be wrong, that his talent on both sides of the ball is exceptional and worth the rabid pursuit and willingness to change to a six-man rotation to better accommodate him.
But the hurdles also are exceptional. It is why I asked Eppler about the organization’s tolerance level should Ohtani struggle at one or both of these disciplines. Do they ask him to concentrate on one or the other, or even contemplate a minor league demotion?
For the Angels are not, say, the Reds or Tigers, a rebuilding squad that could have a long leash on failure in exchange for a player getting experience. Already, brilliant seasons of Mike Trout have been wasted without the Angels winning even a single playoff game in his tenure. Eppler has done a good job of surrounding Trout with a stronger roster in 2018. Part of that includes projecting Ohtani as a top-of-the-rotation difference-maker and impact lefty bat as a few-times-a-week DH
