Shohei Ohtani’s dominant 2018 pitching performance feels like it’s from a bygone era.
Tommy John Surgery wiped out Ohtani’s final month of the 2018 season and the entirety of the 2019 season. After not throwing an MLB pitch for nearly two years, Ohtani struggled his way through two abbreviated starts (7 runs in 1.2 innings) in the abbreviated 2020 season before enduring more arm issues. A right forearm strain sidelined Ohtani on the mound for the remainder of the 2020 season, casting further doubt about the likelihood that he’ll be a quality MLB starter moving forward.
For a short snippet in 2018, however, the baseball world was privy to witness a healthy and fully-functioning Shohei Ohtani on the mound. In 10 starts (51 2/3 innings), Ohtani posted a 3.31 ERA that was 21 percent better than the league average that season. He punched out 29.9 percent of the hitters he faced and his 34.9 percent whiff rate put him in the elite range for starters. He was nothing short of brilliant in his rookie season.
That brilliance was on full display in his first week at Angel Stadium. Following a quality start (6 innings, 3 runs) in his first MLB start in Oakland the prior Sunday, Ohtani switched over to the plate for a slate of weekday games. Ohtani proceeded to homer in three consecutive games in front of the Angels faithful. After an off-day on Saturday, Ohtani would make his home debut as a pitcher in front of a sold-out Angel Stadium on Sunday. What transpired was one of the most dominant pitching performances by an Angels starter this century and an unforgettable moment(s) in Angels history.
First inning
Ohtani fell behind 2-1 to Oakland’s leadoff hitter, Matt Joyce, before pumping a 96 mph fastball past Joyce to even the count. On the sixth pitch of the at-bat, Ohtani unleashed a nasty 86 mph splitter to generate his first strikeout of the afternoon.
After going down 0-2 against Ohtani, the second-hole hitter, Marcus Semien, watched what should’ve been strike 3 on a splitter get called a ball. Two more pitches ran out of the zone to work the count full when Ohtani zipped a 96 mph fastball past Semien.
Ohtani finished off his electric first inning by striking Jed Lowrie on three consecutive pitches. A blazing fastball and a pair of nasty splitters capped off an inning where Ohtani struck out the side.
Second Inning
Ohtani kept it rolling in the second inning after striking out the side in the first inning. This wasn’t quite as dominant as the first inning given that he “only” struck out one batter but he still retired all three batters in succession. He was particularly impressive against Matt Olson, who swung-and-missed on three pitches from Ohtani.
Third Inning
Former Angel Jonathan Lucroy flew out in the first at-bat of the third inning. In the second at-bat, Ohtani had one of his best sequences of the day against Stephen Piscotty. After watching a slider and splitter for strikes, Piscotty flailed at an unhittable splitter just below the strike zone.
Nasty. Ohtani finished off the inning with yet another strikeout, bringing his total to five through the first three innings. 9 up, 9 down.
Fourth Inning
After getting Matt Joyce to ground out, Ohtani possibly had his nastiest sequence of the day against Marcus Semien. After watching a slider for a called strike and a splitter for a ball, Semien was then blown away by two heaters, the latter of which hit 100 mph.
There’s not much Semien could’ve possibly done with that sequence. That was Ohtani at his best, hitting triple digits on the fastball, throwing a slider with frisbee movement, and unleashing his signature splitter. The next batter, Jed Lowrie, grounded out on an 0-2 count to end the inning. 12 up, 12 down.
Fifth Inning
Ohtani started off the fifth inning with yet another nasty sequence, this time against Khris Davis. Two straight splitters made Davis look helpless and on the fifth pitch, Ohtani blew a 99 mph heater right past him.
Facing a helpless Matt Olson, Ohtani got the Oakland slugger to swing through three consecutive pitches: a 97 mph heater, a disappearing splitter, and a 99 mph fastball.
Ohtani finished off the inning with yet another strikeout, with Matt Chapman the victim on this one. With two more swinging-strikes, Ohtani brought his total to 21 through five innings. In other words, he generated more than four swinging-strikes every inning to this point. 15 up, 15 down.
Sixth Inning
Ohtani maintained his perfect game after retiring three in a row in the sixth inning. After a full-count fly-out from Jonathan Lucroy and a first-pitch groundout from Stephen Piscotty, Jake Smolinski flailed at back-to-back splitters to end the frame.
Seventh Inning
After retiring the first 19 batters in a row, Ohtani lost his perfect game on a Marcus Semien single. The seventh inning proved to the toughest and, ultimately, final inning of Ohtani’s day. With two outs and runners on second and third, Ohtani unleashed one final splitter on Matt Olson to end his phenomenal outing.
The final numbers
This was a straight-up dominant game to cap off one of the most electric weeks for any individual in Angels franchise history. Ohtani allowed just one hit and one walk while punching out 12 Oakland hitters. His 24 swinging strikes were the third-most in the pitch-tracking era, trailing only Matt Shoemaker (25 in 2015) and Jered Weaver (25 in 2010). By Game Score (86), this was the 50th-best pitching performance in franchise history. Ohtani’s game score ranks 11th for Angels pitchers in the 21st century.
It was a truly remarkable performance and one that the Angels organization and their fans would like to see again in 2021. Hopefully, Ohtani can find some good fortune and health and once again dominate hitters on an MLB mound.
What a game, I actually thought he would pull it off. It wasn’t his Major League debut, like this example, but it was the most electric debut “of sorts” I’ve seen since Strasburg dominated the Pirates way back when.
Shohei Ohtani is a pitcher? Oh……….smh
I know, right? That’s kind of the general feeling after making a whopping two starts the past two seasons.
Hopefully we will see this Ohtani in 2021 as opposed to the 2020 version.
How nice would it be to add two legitimately good starters AND get the added bonus of a strong Ohtani?
It is almost too nice to hope for. After decades of being snake-bitten, I expect the shake to bite. But maybe it won’t?
The fortunes have to turn around at some point, right? Is it ok to feel optimistic about the Angels?
It’s okay to hope for the best as long as the team prepares for the worst. Unfortunately, the past few years the fans did the former but the team failed to do the latter.
That would be incredible. I think in a realistic world we could add two rotation pieces and get 10-15 starts from Ohtani. That way he doesn’t try to go from 0 to a full workload and get hurt again.
There are 11 Sundays after the All Star break if they’d like to go that route again. He could throw bullpens and build up to a start or two before the break, then get back to Shohei Sundays and maybe be OK to pitch in any possibly postseason games. Or at least be on track for a normal off season.
Was an epic day. The first time I took my son to the Big A. I’d picked the first Sunday thinking it would be a decent crowd but it was packed. Too loud for his 7 month old ears as each out produced louder and louder cheers. We spent the last couple innings of Ohtani’s outing in the Knothole Club and left after the perfect game was lost.
Thanks for sharing, Jeff! That was quite the game to pick for your son’s first game.
I was there too Jeff. This was indeed a classic game and one I will always remember. Ohtani was so dominant.
Semien broke up the no-hitter when he singled off a high fastball, I think in the 7th. . I remember thinking “don’t throw him
a fastball up” Semien is an excellent fastball hitter and can handle 96-98mph better than most, due primarily to his short, compact swing.
In any case, Shohei’s splitter was unhittable in this day. It was how he produced all those swing and misses.
There were a lot of Japanese fans in the stands as this was Shohei’s first start (as mentioned by Brent).
What an enjoyable game! But I can understand not wanting to subject a small baby to the noise etc.
Awesome. It was packed. Tons of Japanese fans, there were several tour busses in the parking lot, lots of media vans.
My plan of maybe spending an hour at a mellow Sunday game was blown to bits in spectacular fashion.