The Los Angeles Dodgers advanced to the National League Championship series by defeating the Philadelphia Phillies in four games, but had to do it without much contributions from Shohei Ohtani at the plate.
After an excellent showing in the Wild Card Series against the Cincinnati Reds, in which he hit .333/.400/1.000 with two home runs and four RBI, Ohtani wasn’t able to get anything going against the Phillies’ pitching staff.
He managed a single hit in 18 at-bats and struck out nine times. The Phillies boast an impressive collection of left-handed starting pitchers and brought in a southpaw reliever to face Ohtani whenever possible. Thus, he logged just four plate appearances against right-handed pitching during the NL Division Series.
While the Phillies’ talented southpaws have played a role in Ohtani’s subpar showing at the plate, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts noted decision making at the plate needs to be better.
Ohtani faced a similar situation in last season’s NLDS against the San Diego Padres, batting .200/.273/.350 with one home run and four RBI in 20 at-bats. He struggled against Yu Darvish and Tanner Scott in particular, but bounced back in the NLCS against the New York Mets.
He batted .364/.548/.636 with two homers and six RBI in 22 at-bats. However, his effectiveness was diminished during the World Series after partially dislocating his left shoulder in Game 2.
Roberts wishes to see Ohtani make similar adjustments this October and refocus his game plan against left-handed pitchers.
“I think that’s a good point and I think the word recalibrate is what he did last year and what we’re going to need from him this next series,” Roberts said.
“We’re not going to win the World Series with that sort of performance, so we’re counting on a recalibration and getting back into the strike zone. Understanding when he faces left-handed pitching, what they’re going to try to do; crowd him in, off, and then spin him away.
“He’s just got to be better at managing the hitting zone. I’m counting on it and we’re all counting on it.”
Despite the struggles, Ohtani has still been able to impact the game with his presence at the plate. The best example of that being his intentional walk to set up a bases-loaded situation in the seventh inning of Game 4 for Mookie Betts. Jhoan Duran then walked Betts to bring in the tying run.
That aside, the Dodgers will need more direct contributions from their most important player going forward.
Shohei Ohtani struggles when pitching
Roberts believes a good first step in making positive change is picking better spots to be aggressive early in the count. The Dodgers’ skipper sees truth in the observation that Ohtani tends to swing early when he’s also the starting pitcher.
“When he’s pitching, he’s probably trying to conserve energy and not really getting into at-bats,” Roberts noted. “It hasn’t been good when he’s pitched.
“I do think that’s part of it, so we’ve got to think through this and come up with a better game plan.”
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