After the Angels took extreme caution in crafting a regimented approach to Ohtani's routine during his rookie season—he only pitched on Sundays and never hit when he pitched, or on the days before or after his pitching starts—manager Joe Maddon has pledged to do away with all the guard rails this season. He could be a 25-homer hitter who also steals double-digit bases. If you Google “Shohei Ohtani 2020 breakout” you will find several articles predicting a breakout season for the Japanese native and we tend to agree as long as he stays healthy. The Red Sox unveiled new yellow and powder blue alternate uniforms on Tuesday. Altuve will be 2021’s most valuable second baseman. (Except the Astros made Tucker prove himself all over again in 2019 before finally giving him a full-time spot last year.) Ohtani is also working on his hitting and serving as the designated hitter several times a week, which makes it more difficult for him to be on a normal starting pitcher’s schedule. Ohtani, 26, pitched a scoreless first inning against the White Sox, striking out one and walking another. I think it’s safe to say, barring any setbacks, Ohtani will find himself a member of the starting staff. You’ll be rewarded either way. Ohtani saw a high fastball, nearly at his shoulders, and pulverized it over the batter’s eye at Tempe Diablo Stadium. Yermín Mercedes’s Hot Start at the Dish. Houston's sign-stealing scandal isn't exactly in the rearview mirror at the outset of the 2021 season. In the bottom of the frame, he hit the first pitch he saw for a 450-foot home run – his second of the season – deep in … A highly regarded prospect tears up the upper levels of the minor leagues with an average around .300, showing both 25-homer power and 20-steal speed. Ohtani was 17 for 31 (.548) with five homers, including two 460-foot-plus blasts over the batters’ eye at Tempe Diablo Stadium. Ohtani is also slated to be in the lineup again Sunday Ohtani becomes a fantasy treasure, not a fantasy headache. In the process, he threw a pitch harder than any other starting pitcher has this season, and hit a home run harder than any other hitter. We’re coming off a season in which the designated hitter was used in every game, three starting pitchers still finished with ERAs under 2.00 and Luke Voit won the home run title with 22. As the curtain rises on another baseball season, it’s worth celebrating the fact that something we tend to take for granted every spring has, in fact, arrived. So instead of trying to make absolute sense of everything, why not allow our minds to go out on a limb a little and consider these (admittedly unlikely) possibilities that could define the 2021 season? The Cactus League and Grapefruit League seasons started two weeks ago, which means Opening Day is only two weeks away. ANAHEIM -- Shohei Ohtani met with the media for the first time in nearly two weeks before the Angels' home opener against the Rangers on Thursday and said he believes he could be ready to return before the end of April but that it’ll be up to the training staff on when he’ll be ready. PROSPECTS WORTH WATCHING: MLB's 100 Names to Know for 2021. The right-handed Ohtani had 10 impressive starts on the mound as a rookie in 2018 before needing Tommy John surgery on his right elbow. Ohtani received his second career Player of the Week honor -- and first since the week of April 8 -- after both setting a rookie record and receiving devastating news. And he hasn’t been a 30-steal guy since 2017. © 2021 ABG-SI LLC. Shohei Ohtani has shown to be quite a find despite a poor Spring Training. Last week Paul Sporer ranked Ohtani just outside his top 30 starting pitchers, slotting him between Lance McCullers and Jose Berrios. He has not been fully healthy since, leaving the baseball world to wonder whether this grand experiment would even be attempted again. Cron, partly because he has been blistering the ball this spring. It will also cause Angels fans to hold their collective breaths with every pitch thrown and swing taken. Maeda has one of the AL’s best offenses behind him. Entering the season with just one major league at-bat under his belt, Yermín Mercedes of the Chicago White Sox became the first player since at least 1900 to began the season with eight consecutive hits. (And no, it's not a Fox News reference.) Shohei Ohtani has been shut down as a pitcher for at least four to six weeks after being diagnosed with a Grade 1-2 strain of the flexor pronator mass in his right forearm. That he's attempting to pull off a feat not accomplished in over a century, though, means MLB has a global star on its hands that's incomparable to anything the league has had to offer in quite some time. “Our trainer was pretty certain he’s going to be fine,” Maddon said, confirming that Ohtani is still scheduled to get at-bats in Tuesday night's exhibition against the Dodgers. No one really seems to want Jose Altuve in this year’s drafts. SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Shohei Ohtani is off to a great start at the plate in Cactus League play with four homers in his first 20 at-bats. Ohtani ended up going 1-for-3 at the plate and pitching 4 2/3 innings, allowing three runs (one earned) on two hits and five walks with seven strikeouts. Certainly, there’s a lot to like about Ozzie Albies, DJ LeMahieu and Whit Merrifield. The Angels' Shohei Ohtani and the Nationals' Bryce Harper were recognized on Monday as the American League and National League Players of the Week, respectively, presented by W.B. As a rookie in 2018, Ohtani became the first player since Ruth in 1919 to pitch 50 innings and hit 15 home runs in the same season. Though the season isn’t even a week old — Opening Day was on Thursday — Ohtani’s home run was the hardest-hit of the season. Or vice versa. Going an additional three months without baseball, as we did last year, was not something any of us would like to repeat. The Cactus League and Grapefruit League seasons started two weeks ago, which means Opening Day is only two weeks away. Where have we heard this before? Of course we are talking about someone who turns 31 in May. Two weeks and three days, to … In the second week of spring training, the Angels have seen positive signs from two-way star Shohei Ohtani. He’s been even more dominant this spring, allowing just one run in 18 1/3 innings. The Angels said Ohtani was not pulled because of injury, and that he was "fine" after only experiencing general soreness. We’re talking about a .311 career hitter who completely turned things around in the playoffs, when he hit as many home runs (five) as he did during the regular season. The Magic of Shohei Ohtani’s Two-Way, One-WAR Week. If we're lucky, it won't be the last. The 2021 season is a mere four days old, and we're a long way away from considering Ohtani's two-way efforts a complete success. This year I promised myself I wasn’t going to bet Ohtani again, yet sure enough, a week into spring training I had convinced myself to bet him to win the AL MVP. Mason. He topped out at 101 mph. Yes, spring training stats don’t always tell the full story, but Maeda’s 22 strikeouts and only one walk show he’s more than ready for his opening-day start. With the addition of Andrelton Simmons at shortstop, he also has one of the best defenses too. All Rights Reserved. On the mound, the results weren’t so clear. The computer programs that run leagues can’t classify him as a pitcher and a hitter at the same time – so fantasy managers must choose one or the other … or he becomes two separate players taking up two roster spots. It took just 10 days for ace/slugger/superhero Shohei Ohtani to cement his status as the greatest spectacle in sports. The Miami Marlins, with their excellent young rotation and below-average offense, will be playing a ton of close, low-scoring games this season. Shohei Ohtani threw the fastest pitch by a starter (100.6 mph) and recorded the hardest hit ball of the season (115.2 mph exit velo) both in the first inning of Sunday night’s game. ), FANTASY RANKINGS: The top 200 overall players for 2021. Against the Padres’ potent lineup, he gave up only two hits and twice retired the side in order. Ohtani is scheduled to make his second start as a pitcher on Sunday versus the Blue Jays. The Magic of Shohei Ohtani’s Two-Way, One-WAR Week. He just had his fastball command off.” Ohtani has only pitched four regular-season innings since June 2018. The series is highlighted by Albert Pujols 3,000 hit figurine give away on Friday. He underwent Tommy John surgery that October and was shut down … Maeda will be the only pitcher to win 20 games. Ohtani, however, is likely to be a bit behind the other pitchers at the end of camp, but he threw 58 pitches on Saturday and is expected to get two more starts this spring. The movie is a baseball classic, Sandlot. Ohtani received his second career Player of the Week honor -- and first since the week of April 8 -- after both setting a rookie record and receiving devastating news. He could also be a 15-win pitcher with 180 strikeouts. Gonzalez: It happened exactly two weeks ago, in the first inning of a spring training game in Peoria, Arizona. But winning a fantasy league can often be a matter of finding a little nugget of truth that can lead us to the possibility of what might happen. Gonzalez: It happened exactly two weeks ago, in the first inning of a spring training game in Peoria, Arizona. Overall, Ohtani is hitting .429 with a pair of home runs. He just had his fastball command off.” Ohtani has only pitched four regular-season innings since June 2018. Relax the filters a little (Chapman played in 37 games and had 152 PA), and suddenly he appears in the top 10 in barrels per plate appearance (10.5%) and per batted ball (18.0%). As you watched all of this unfold, you might have forgotten that hitting a baseball isn't even the thing Ohtani … That’s because he missed time with a hip injury and just barely missed the minimum number of plate appearances to qualify. He exited Sunday's outing in an erratic fifth inning that ended when he was toppled over in a collision at home plate. Unfortunately, the way most fantasy leagues are set up, it’s almost impossible to duplicate the impact Shohei Ohtani can make on the real game. Ohtani is 3-for-11 with a double lifetime against Cole, who has said the pitcher/outfielder has been “given a gift.” The Yankees will see the Angels in the Bronx for a four-game series June 28-July 1, then they are scheduled to visit Anaheim from Aug. 30-Sept. 1. The Chicago White Sox catcher had struck out on a wicked curveball from Angels two-way star Shohei Ohtani. The Cardinals are now fully invested in Carlson’s success. And as he made his way back to the dugout, he pointed to Ohtani as if to say, “You got me.” By that point in Saturday’s spring training game, Ohtani had thrown 58 pitches across 2-1/3 innings. When Ohtani takes the reigning American League Cy Young Award winner deep, which he did once this past week, or makes the reigning AL MVP … But, if only for a night, the baseball world caught a glimpse at what could be. A healthy Cron could be a very productive Cron. The comparisons between Ohtani and Babe Ruth are both unrealistically lofty and obvious. And you should be as well. The benefits for the game at large would be twofold—fans would get to see Mike Trout, the greatest player of his generation, and Ohtani, a once-in-a-century unicorn, finally compete in the postseason. Ohtani will pitch as a normal member of the Angels ' six-man rotation this season and won't be locked into a specific day of the week, Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic reports. In fantasy baseball, we try to figure out what’s most likely to happen over 162 games and construct our teams around that concept. We feel Ohtani some of the base Ohtani rookie cards have a good to great value at current prices as they have somewhat floundered as Ohtani has struggled with injuries since arriving in the MLB. He’s also in the top 20 in hard-hit percentage. Bagley will likely be a first round pick despite only playing 12 games for Arizona State. Statcast numbers back those skills up, too. That’s a winning combination. Early indications from the Angels are that they plan to let him play as much as his body will let him. The only other time Cron had a season’s worth of full-time at-bats was in 2018 with Tampa Bay, when he mashed 30 home runs. However, he’s been lighting up radar guns and home run distance calculators with equally impressive readings this spring. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, Universal DH: Remembering the Best (and Worst) of Pitchers and the Plate, Angels RP Ty Buttrey Unexpectedly Retires From Baseball, Tigers Rookie Akil Baddoo Homers in First At-Bat, His Parents Go Wild. Pitching and hitting in the same game for the first time since joining Major League Baseball, Ohtani wasted no time showing why his arrival in the U.S. three years ago was met with so much hype. Mason. “I have a whole week ahead of me to try to toughen it up,” Ohtani said. The plan is to take a more day-by-day approach and let how Ohtani's feeling dictate how much he rests, with the goal of getting him on the field as often as physically possible. Steve Gardner poses the biggest question facing each AL West team in 2021. the least “banging” information of any Astros regular, Statcast numbers back those skills up, too, Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. This is the type of player many envisioned when Ohtani officially signed with the Angels in December 2017.It's more or less what we saw for the first 10 weeks of the 2018 season, when Ohtani … This time it will be different. In 2020, he returned to the mound and made two starts for … Maddon added: “The [velocities] were still high. The result might mean a relatively clean bill of health for the two-way star. Ohtani hit two against the Indians this week, one off a Josh Tomlin curveball on Tuesday and another on a 93-mph Corey Kluber fastball on Wednesday. I think it’s safe to say, barring any setbacks, Ohtani will find himself a member of the starting staff. There’s also the fact that he’s likely to be the everyday first baseman for the Colorado Rockies this season. Shohei Ohtani’s quest to regain his reputation as a stellar two-way player gets a big test when he takes the mound for the Los Angeles Angels against the White Sox. Maddon added: “The [velocities] were still high. This is the type of player many envisioned when Ohtani officially signed with the Angels in December 2017.It's more or less what we saw for the first 10 weeks of the 2018 season, when Ohtani … Follow USA TODAY Sports' Steve Gardner on Twitter @SteveAGardner, The biggest question facing every AL West team in 2021. The Ohtani hype has slowly built up for the past week or so, starting with Ohtani hitting 100 mph in his bullpen last weekend. USA Baseball will have its first chance to return to the Olympics in the 2028 Los Angeles Games. Shohei Ohtani has been shut down as a pitcher for at least four to six weeks after being diagnosed with a Grade 1-2 strain of the flexor pronator mass in his right forearm. Chicago White Sox (1-2) vs. Los Angeles Angels (2-1) Anaheim, California; Sunday, 8:37 p.m. EDT PITCHING PROBABLES: White Sox: TBD Angels: Shohei Ohtani (0 … Shohei Ohtani is doing what hasn't been done in baseball in almost a century, and he's making it look ridiculously easy. Although he hardly pitched at all last season due to a forearm strain, the headache Ohtani routinely gave fantasy managers in the past came when he would have a good week hitting and a poor week pitching. Real Madrid hosts Liverpool in the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinals on Tuesday, April 6. Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Angels made a big splash Sunday night against the Chicago White Sox in Anaheim, Calif. He’s a baseball unicorn. If he stays healthy (a big if, of course), it might not matter which of Ohtani’s talents you choose every week. https://www.yahoo.com/now/shohei-ohtani-mlb-fantasy-mvp-105436791.html And Altuve did hit a putrid .219 last year … but that’s not who he is. Then, batting second in the bottom of the first, Ohtani ambushed the first pitch he saw and deposited it well into the right field pavilion seats. Sunday was Ohtani’s most impressive spring game yet. Count Gerrit Cole among those who can’t get enough of Angels hitter/pitcher Shohei Ohtani. Ohtani has flashed brilliance frequently enough that talent is no longer a question; the biggest uncertainty remains health. Not even superstar shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. reached base against him, striking out in … For the Angels, Ohtani's sustained health and success is paramount to ending their six-year playoff drought. Quite simply, the previous sentence details an athletic feat that seemed impossible for most of the past century or so, and the fact that Ohtani pulled this off on the same night—and with a national audience tuned in—represents the most exciting development the game has seen in years. Are the Astros still an AL powerhouse? Cron and Chapman lead their leagues in home runs. He’d surrendered six hits and five runs. He topped out at 101 mph. Despite four strikeouts, he’d been forced to grind. Against former Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell, Ohtani extended his Cactus League hitting streak to nine games and improved his batting average to .636. Signed with the Oakland a ’ s safe to say, barring setbacks... Its first chance to return to the Olympics in the 2028 Los games! 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