CHICAGO — It was one of the questions of the spring – would Shohei Ohtani be an even better hitter this season without having to devote some of his time and energy to pitching?
He reached the midpoint of this season leading the majors in batting average (.322) and the National League in home runs (25), slugging percentage (.643) and OPS (1.045) while ranking third in the NL in RBIs (61) and fourth in on-base percentage (.402).
So – yes?
“The reality is the workload has been a lot less. I can’t deny that,” Ohtani said through his interpreter. “But at the same time, as I gain experience year after year, I’m growing as a hitter. I think that’s leading to good results.”
Ohtani’s average and OBP this year are the highest of his career through his team’s first 82 games. But he had higher slugging percentages at this point in his two MVP seasons – 1.067 in 2021, 1.048 last year – and more home runs and RBIs in those years as well.
“I don’t know. We don’t have anything to judge it on, in the sense of he is just hitting now,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “Yes, there’s a heightened focus on just hitting. But I also believe there’s a commitment to being a better hitter, to controlling the strike zone, and then we will see next year, with that same mindset, layering on the pitching part.
“To add the pitching part, what a unique, generational player. But the hitting is better than it’s ever been in the big leagues. And I see him sustaining that as long as he stays disciplined in the strike zone.”
Roberts keeps coming back to that point when discussing Ohtani’s hitting – and Ohtani also talks about having a better “awareness of the strike zone” when he is on a hot streak like his current tear.
“I think Shohei understands that when you show that you can control the strike zone, take balls, even in hitter’s counts, where in years past he had a big tendency to chase because he likes to swing,” Roberts said. “But when you do that, you earn pitches in the strike zone. And when he does that, a lot of special things happen.”
Whether it’s a greater focus on hitting because he is not pitching or, as Ohtani believes, his growth as a hitter, Ohtani seems to have taken those lessons to heart. He is swinging at fewer pitches outside the strike zone than he has in any full season (his chase rate was a career-low 23.9% in 2020 compared to 27.2 this year), resulting in the highest hard-hit rate of his career (61.5%, second in the majors behind the New York Yankees’ Aaron Judge’s 63.3%).
“He’s a guy that can hit a lot of pitches and at times he likes to test the limits of what he can hit and can’t hit,” Dodgers hitting coach Robert Van Scoyoc said. “But it’s helping him understand it doesn’t really matter who you are, you’re going to have more success in the strike zone. Also, it makes him a tougher out. It doesn’t give them a ‘Get Out of Jail Free’ card to beat him.
“If he’s able to stay in the strike zone, he’s dangerous. Aggression is also dangerous too so it’s a double-edged sword. When he’s swinging the bat, yeah, they can get him out outside the zone. But they also know they’ve got to make a really good pitch too.”
Ohtani’s first half-season with the Dodgers has been a resounding success despite a pair of minor physical issues. He missed one game in early May with lower back stiffness then played through a bruised hamstring.
That seemed to be the only thing that could slow Ohtani this season. He hit .197 (12 for 61) in 16 games after being hit in the back of his right leg by a pickoff throw on May 16. That certainly seems healed now – Ohtani has batted .361 (22 for 61) with 10 home runs and a 1.405 OPS in his past 17 games.
“The performance was definitely affected, but swing-wise I don’t know. Was he just on a heater before that and seemed to be cooling off or did it just coincide with that?” Van Scoyoc said of the hamstring injury.
“Is that why? Maybe. I don’t know. The thing with guys like him – they have their hot streaks throughout the year. It’s unreasonable to expect them to maintain it the whole time. So when these things pop up we want to assign blame. But is it because of the hamstring or is it just some of the variance of the long season? Probably that.”
Roberts sees Ohtani being more consistent about “controlling the strike zone,” leading to things like his current run of eight home runs in his past 10 games.
“He is obviously crazy talented, but people feed off of his eagerness to swing the bat,” Roberts said. “I think right now he’s just got the tunnel vision on having good at-bats. And that’s why all these kind of homers and runs batted in and runs scored, all these good things are happening.”
Whether they are happening at a higher rate because Ohtani is a two-way player with a one-way focus this year seems to be one of baseball’s many unanswerable questions.
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“Obviously I haven’t seen it. I haven’t seen him pitch and all that and how that affects everything,” Van Scoyoc said. “He’s pretty good at compartmentalizing everything. It’s hard to say. Hitting goes in waves. Who’s to say if he ends up having a better year it wouldn’t have happened (even if he was pitching as well)? It’s impossible to scale.”
ALL-STAR VOTING
Results of the first phase of All-Star voting were announced on Thursday. Judge led the American League in voting and Bryce Harper led the National League, meaning they are assured of spots in the starting lineup for the July 16 game in Texas.
Mookie Betts (shortstop), Teoscar Hernandez (outfield) and Ohtani (DH) are finalists at their positions and moved on to the second phase of voting. That begins Sunday at mlb.com.
UP NEXT
Dodgers (RHP Landon Knack, 1-1, 2.10 ERA) at Giants (RHP Logan Webb, 6-6, 3.16 ERA), Friday, 7:15 p.m., SportsNet LA, 570 AM