Angels: Recapping Game four and Shohei Ohtani’s First Career Start

The Los Angeles Angels won their third game in a row against the Oakland Athletics to end the series. But Shohei Ohtani made his first career start in the Majors, so I can’t help but make this whole article about him.

1. Shohei Ohtani.

Coming into the day today, no one really knew what to actually expect from Los Angeles Angels phenom Shohei Ohtani.

Would his struggles in Spring Training carry over into his first start? Will he be dominant from the start? Well, he had to start somewhere, and he started with a 96 mph fastball on the inside part of the plate to Marcus Semien. I don’t know about you, but that was a great way to start, and he eventually struck Semien out with a filthy splitter.

2. Shohei Ohtani.

Ohtani topped out at 100 mph and hit a low of 73 mph on a curveball. The majority of his pitches were fastballs, sliders, and splitters. He got through six innings on 92 pitches, which is rather high, so the next time out the goal should be to pitch more efficiently.

For the most part, his stuff was electric. His fastball had a late life to it, his splitter got most of his strikeouts, and his slider looked like a wiffle ball at times. The three-run home run he gave up to Matt Chapman was on a slider that was actually pretty well located.

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3. Shohei Ohtani.

However, not everything was dandy. Three earned runs in six innings is fine, especially when paired with six strikeouts and one walk. The issue is that Ohtani constantly left pitches up in the zone.

His sliders especially would hang up in the zone far more often than it should. He started hitting his spots lower in the zone as the game went on, so it might be nerves getting the better of him. But if this trend continues in his next few starts, he will struggle as hitters begin to adjust to him.

Final Thoughts

The Angels go home with a 3-1 record to face the Cleveland Indians on Monday. I believe JC Ramirez is going to take the bump tomorrow, with Richards and Skaggs taking their second turns through after him.

Next: LA athletes to party with on Spring Break

This series against the Indians will give us a glimpse as to whether or not the Halos have what it takes to go up against a viable World Series contender.