Angels: Shohei Ohtani’s hitting debut will be telling of his rookie year

Evaluating a player’s entire rookie season based on the first Spring Training appearance is absurd. Yet still, we are doing it with the Angels’ Shohei Ohtani.

I hate doing this, I really do. But a special talent like Shohei Ohtani, who is already bending the rules of the MLB, deserves some rule-bending of my own. The Los Angeles Angels two-way superstar is yet to see time at the plate this spring. When he does, it will show us exactly what we need to know about his hitting as an MLB player.

According to Jeff Fletcher of The Orange County Register, Ohtani is set to make his hitting debut either Monday or Tuesday against the Padres or Rockies, respectively. Ohtani will DH in said debut.

Ohtani’s first appearance on the mound was okay. The Japanese star showed how nasty his stuff is and how he can easily make even MLB bats miss. However, Ohtani was shaky with his command, throwing 14 of 17 pitches for balls. Ohtani walked one batter, struck out two and allowed two runs in 1.1 innings of work.

Ohtani’s first appearance on an MLB mound and is not a concrete example of his capabilities. He showed electric stuff and as he warms up to the league and gets back in his routine, his stuff will only get better.

Yet still, the hitting aspect of his game is the most interesting. Whenever he does make his designated hitter debut, it will tell us all how he will hit this season.

Managing Ohtani as both a pitcher and a hitter is a tough task. Ohtani can go as many as three days without taking batting practice, something that happened earlier in the week according to Fletcher.

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The MLB is just too good to make hitting the second priority. We all know these pitchers were great hitters in high school (and even college), but now are a shell of themselves. When you stop getting regular game looks and batting practice, you lose that natural hitting ability.

Not to say that will happen to Ohtani, but trying to balance this workload will impact his hitting more than his pitching. If Ohtani goes out and makes good contact, heck, at least puts a good swing on the ball than he should be fine. A 0-2 performance is okay if he looks like he belongs.

However, if he goes up there with limited batting practice and looks like a pitcher at the plate, well, his MLB career may just be that; a pitcher. I respect and admire the Angels trying to do this two-way thing, but maybe it is not meant to be.

That does not mean the Angels should just give up after this first performance, not at all. However, this first performance will show us how Ohtani reacts to limited practice in hitting. Is his natural talent enough? Who knows.

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What I do know though is come summer the MLB season slows down and it becomes a genuine mission to get through the long 162 game season. If Shohei Ohtani struggles during Spring with limited practice, just imagine how he will feel 20 starts into the season.