Ohtani acknowledges there are advantages to having a lower workload this season, but he also points to added experience for his success midway through the season.
Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani reached the midpoint of this season leading MLB in batting average and the National League in home runs , slugging percentage and OPS while ranking third in the NL in RBIs and fourth in on-base percentage .
“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.
“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.”
“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.” “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.
“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.”
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