Shohei Ohtani established himself as the most talented player in baseball and twice won an American League MVP Award in unanimous fashion while pitching and hitting for the Los Angeles Angels.
Ohtani made MLB history with a third unanimous MVP Award in his first season with the Los Angeles Dodgers, and envisions himself being even more of a two-way force moving forward.
The Dodgers are just starting to enjoy the full Shohei Ohtani experience this season, as the right-hander has made two starts as a pitcher. Although, he was limited to one inning in each outing, there have been signs of what’s to come from his work on the mound.
The latest of which saw Ohtani record two strikeouts in a hitless inning against the Washington Nationals.
“Overall, I was able to relax much better compared to my last outing,” Ohtani said through interpreter Will Ireton after the Dodgers’ 29th comeback win of the season.
Heading into the start, manager Dave Roberts left open the possibility of Ohtani possibly pitching into the second inning on Sunday. However, Roberts and Ohtani revealed after the game that another start of just completing the opening frame was in the Dodgers’ plans all along.
“I’m looking forward to adding more innings and pitches,” Ohtani said.
Amid some rumblings of beginning to pitch taking away from his prowess at the plate, Ohtani offered a different perspective and expressed confidence of being able to reach greater heights as a two-way player moving forward.
“I’ve been able to come back to game action earlier than expected, so in that sense I do feel like I do have to work on some things,” he said of getting acclimated to pulling double duty once per week.
“But at the same time, I feel like I can perform even better than what I used to be able to perform at.”
Shohei Ohtani’s pitching program
Roberts suggested Ohtani would potentially reach the second inning in his next start, which is still to be decided what day that will take place.
“It’s going to be a gradual process,” Ohtani said of building up. “I want to see improvements with the quality of pitches that I’m throwing, and then also increasing the amount of pitches.
“It’s going to be gradual.”
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