Los Angeles Angels fans had waited nearly 700 days to see Shohei Ohtani make his return to the mound after spending the 2019 season as a designated hitter while recovering from Tommy John surgery.
Sunday was supposed to be an encouraging step for Ohtani as he got back to being a star-caliber pitcher and hitter. Instead, his outing against the Athletics lasted just 30 pitches with Ohtani allowing five runs and failing to record an out.
But most worrisome of all, Ohtani’s velocity was nowhere close to the heat he brought as a rookie before Tommy John.
The biggest thing I saw with Shohei Ohtani was his significantly decreased arm speed and the fact that he's flying open too early.
Allow me to explain ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/SxRAQE9GtX
— Danny Vietti (@DannyVietti) July 26, 2020
Shohei Ohtani’s first pitch of the 2020 season is a 93 mph fastball for a strike. #Angels pic.twitter.com/bu7guSVeni
— Brent Maguire (@bmags94) July 26, 2020
On Sunday, Ohtani averaged just 92.9 mph on his fastball, which could have been attributed to poor mechanics (flying open too soon in his delivery). Still, as a rookie in 2018, Ohtani looked the part in his 10 pitching appearances before the arm injury. His four-seam fastball averaged 96.7 mph in 2018 and exceeded 100 mph on multiple occasions.
He looked nothing like that pitcher on Sunday, and baseball fans were worried — even if it was just a 30-pitch sample size after a long layoff and surgery.
Shohei Ohtani’s day is done. He did not record a single out over 30 pitches, none of which were splitters. His fastball velocity averaged 92.9 mph.
— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) July 26, 2020
Plus 3 walks. What an awful performance. https://t.co/vObxMbBQ42
— Drew Copley (@DrewASJax) July 26, 2020
Ohtani has depressed me for the rest of the day
— Connor Looker (@HotStoveStats) July 26, 2020
Shohei Ohtani was throwing 98-100 in 2018. He's throwing 91-93 today. I see this two-way player thing not going on very much longer.
— Kyle Schwerin (@KleShreen) July 26, 2020
Ohtani not throwing 100 anymore 😢
— Cristian (@ctanamoca) July 26, 2020
Damn I’m rooting for Ohtani. That just sucks
— Raise The Cat Edits (@RTCEdits) July 26, 2020
Ohtani averaged 96.4 mph fastball before Tommy John. Now averages 91.2…. #Pitchingcareerover?
— vKingZouric👑🔔 (@KingZouric) July 26, 2020
How much longer are we going to try to sell him as a pitcher and outfielder? It’s not possible. The longer they push this, the more the #Angels will ruin his career. #MLB https://t.co/FxQhFeMAAT
— Justin Valentine (@JV_Sports_Talk) July 26, 2020
We’ll have to see how Ohtani looks in the next appearance before there’s real cause for concern, but this wasn’t a great start — to say the least.
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