Los Angeles Angels: Four bold predictions for the Angels in 2018

1. Shohei Ohtani will flame out fast

The Los Angeles Angels have one of the most interesting storylines in baseball on their hands. In 2018, the Angels have the task of juggling Shohei Ohtani and his wide array of talents. Mike Scioscia has to somehow figure out how to best utilize Ohtani’s power-hitting bat as frequent as possible while also managing his rest atop the pitching rotation.

It is going to be tough but the Angels at least have one distinction on their side — the designated hitter. The DH at least allows the Angels to keep Ohtani out of the outfield, which is where he would play if his bat did carry him to the everyday lineup.

This at least softens some of the problems for the Angels, but does not solve them all. The time management issue still exists with Ohtani. Ironically, this will be the same issue that causes the Japanese star to flame out fast in his first MLB season.

Now, this is not to say that Ohtani will be a bust and can’t have a successful career, of course he can. However, his rookie year in the MLB is going to be filled with so many complications that will turn a hot start into a sour ending. Come October, don’t expect Ohtani to be reliable enough to be the team’s ace.

Look at every Japanese pitcher that has come to the MLB in recent years. Masahiro Tanaka, Kenta Maeda and Yu Darvish are all solid pitchers. What they all showed in their rookie years was that they were not use to the American workload. In the second half of all of their rookie seasons, their numbers took a significant hit.

The same will happen to Ohtani, but it will happen much worse. Somehow that Angels want Ohtani to carry a rotation but help provide on offense without flaring out late. As his Japanese counterparts have shown us, the MLB workload is much more than anywhere else in the world.

Unfortunately for Ohtani, his workload, in particular, is going to be much more than any other athlete in the world. That is a recipe for disaster.