The Los Angeles Dodgers’ struggle to produce on offense has been discussed at length during their recent skid, and specifically Shohei Ohtani not being his usual self in the batter’s box.
Ohtani hit a home run in Tuesday’s game against the San Francisco Giants to break a 52-plate appearance drought without one. And it was just Ohtani’s second home run in his last 111 plate appearances. In total, he reached base safely in three of five plate appearances.
Then Ohtani was not in the Dodgers lineup for the next two games. Manager Dave Roberts believes the home run could help Ohtani get back on track and wasn’t worried about the back-to-back nights of not hitting.
“I do. I don’t think sitting for two days is going to get him off of what he was doing. I really do,” Roberts began. “He’s very in tune with his body, his mechanics. The goal is to kind of let his body reset. I do think the three at-bats he took [Tuesday] night, squaring it up and hitting the homer the other way, is on the right track. He was pretty excited about that one.”
Roberts said Ohtani’s prolonged hitless streak was the most uncomfortable the 31-year-old has looked. The Dodgers’ skipper recently expressed that he believed Ohtani was trying to swing his way out of the slump instead of playing within himself.
Ohtani’s mentality at the plate could certainly benefit from the Dodgers’ offense performing better as a whole.
Max Muncy touched on that issue this week, stating his point of view that too many players were singlehandedly trying to make up for the rest of the team.
“The hard thing about when you’re going through a funk like this as a team is you get in these situations and you want to do something big instead of just keeping it simple,” Muncy said. “I think all of us, up and down, are kind of in that spot right now. We just need to simplify things and not try to do too much when it’s our turn in the box.”
For his part, Muncy is confident that the team will find a way to break out of their collective slump.
Shohei Ohtani wants to be “great”
Ohtani continued his dominance on the mound against the Giants on Wednesday as he chases a goal of winning the National League Cy Young Award. However, the Dodgers’ star was held out of the lineup for the fourth time in seven starts on the mound this season.
While the results on the mound have been great, Ohtani is determined to return to his two-way dominance.
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