{"id":307124,"date":"2025-10-16T04:19:14","date_gmt":"2025-10-16T04:19:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/307124\/"},"modified":"2025-10-16T04:19:14","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T04:19:14","slug":"shohei-ohtani-takes-rare-on-field-bp-amid-playoff-slump-downplays-impact-of-two-way-role","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/307124\/","title":{"rendered":"Shohei Ohtani takes rare on-field BP amid playoff slump, downplays impact of two-way role"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

At 5:37 p.m. Wednesday, Michael Buble\u2019s \u201cFeeling Good\u201d<\/a> blared from the Dodger Stadium speakers.<\/p>\n

Shohei Ohtani came strolling to the plate with a bat in his hands.<\/p>\n

There was no one in the stands, of course. Nor an opposing pitcher on the mound. The Dodgers,<\/a> on this workout day after returning from Milwaukee, were still some 22 hours away from resuming their National League Championship Series against the Brewers. For any other player, it would have been a routine affair.<\/p>\n

Ohtani, however, is not just any player.<\/p>\n

And among the many things that make him unique, his habit of almost never taking batting practice on the field is one of the small but notable ones.<\/p>\n

Which made his decision to do so Wednesday a telling development.<\/p>\n

Over the last two weeks, Ohtani has been in a slump. Since the start of the NL Division Series,<\/a> he is just two-for-25 with a whopping 12 strikeouts. He has been smothered by left-handed pitching. He has made poor swing decisions and failed to slug the ball.<\/p>\n

Last week, manager Dave Roberts went so far as to say the Dodgers were \u201cnot gonna win the World Series with that sort of performance\u201d from their $700-million slugger.<\/p>\n

Thus, out Ohtani came for batting practice on Wednesday in the most visible sign yet of his urgency for a turnaround.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe other way to say it is that, if I hit, we will win,\u201d Ohtani said in Japanese when asked about Roberts\u2019 World Series quote earlier Wednesday afternoon. \u201cI think he thinks that if I hit, we will win. I\u2019d like to do my best to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Roberts\u2019 view, Ohtani has already started improving from his woeful NLDS, when he struck out nine times in 18 trips to the plate against a left-handed-heavy Philadelphia Phillies staff that, as president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman emphatically put it, had \u201cthe most impressive execution against a hitter I\u2019ve ever seen.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Game 1 of the NLCS against the Brewers, Ohtani was 0-for-two but walked three times; twice intentionally but another on a more disciplined five-pitch at-bat to lead off the game against left-handed opener Aaron Ashby.<\/p>\n

The following night, he went only one-for-five with three more strikeouts, giving him 15 this postseason, second-most in the playoffs. But he did have an RBI single, marking his first run driven in since Game 2 of the NLDS. He followed that with a steal, swiping his first bag of the playoffs. And earlier in the game, he scorched a lineout to right at 115.2 mph, the hardest he\u2019d hit a ball since taking Cincinnati Reds pitcher Hunter Greene deep in the team\u2019s postseason opener.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first two games in Milwaukee, his at-bats have been fantastic,\u201d Roberts said Wednesday, before heading out to the field and watching Ohtani\u2019s impromptu BP session.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what I\u2019ve been looking for. That\u2019s what I\u2019m counting on,\u201d he added, while noting the careful approach the Brewers have also taken with the soon-to-be four-time MVP. \u201cYou can only take what they give you. So for me, I think he\u2019s in a good spot right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Shohei <\/p>\n

Shohei Ohtani puts the ball in play in the third inning during Game 4 of the NLDS.<\/p>\n

(Gina Ferazzi \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

Ohtani\u2019s overall numbers, of course, continue to suggest otherwise. His .147 postseason batting average is second-worst on the team, ahead of only Andy Pages. His seven-game drought without an extra-base hit is longer than any he endured in the regular season.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first thing I have to do is increase the level of my at-bats,\u201d Ohtani said in Japanese. \u201cSwing at strikes and not swing at balls.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, Ohtani\u2019s slump also led to questions about his role as a two-way player, and whether his return to pitching this season (and, this October, doing it for the first time in the playoffs) has contributed to his sudden struggles at the plate.<\/p>\n

After all, on days Ohtani pitched this season, he hit .222 with four home runs but 21 strikeouts. On the days immediately following an outing, he batted .147 with two home runs and 10 strikeouts.<\/p>\n

His current slump began with a hitless, four-strikeout dud in Game 1 of the NLDS, when he also made a six-inning, three-run start on the mound.<\/p>\n

And in days since, Roberts has acknowledged some likely correlation between Ohtani\u2019s two roles.<\/p>\n

\u201c[His offense] hasn\u2019t been good when he\u2019s pitched,\u201d Roberts said following the NLDS. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to think through this and come up with a better game plan.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ohtani, on the other hand, pushed back somewhat on that narrative during Wednesday\u2019s workout, in which he also threw a bullpen session in preparation for his next start in Game 4 of the NLCS on Friday.<\/p>\n

While it is \u201cmore physically strenuous\u201d to handle both roles, he conceded, he countered that \u201cI don\u2019t know if there\u2019s a direct correlation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPhysically,\u201d he added, \u201cI don\u2019t feel like there\u2019s a connection.\u201d<\/p>\n

Instead, Ohtani on Wednesday went about fixing his swing the way any other normal hitter would. He went out on the field for his rare session of batting practice. Of his 32 swings, he sent 14 over the fence, including one that clanked off the roof of the right-field pavilion.<\/p>\n

\u201cCertainly, there\u2019s frustration,\u201d Roberts said of how he\u2019s seen Ohtani handle his uncharacteristic lack of performance.<\/p>\n

But, he added, \u201cthat\u2019s expected. I don\u2019t mind it. I like the edge.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s obviously a very, very talented player, and we\u2019re counting on him,\u201d Roberts continued. \u201cHe\u2019s just a great competitor. He\u2019s very prepared. And there\u2019s still a lot of baseball left.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At 5:37 p.m. Wednesday, Michael Buble\u2019s \u201cFeeling Good\u201d blared from the Dodger Stadium speakers. Shohei Ohtani came strolling…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":307125,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[20698,155460,20417,155461,2091,1910,1266,51384,155457,26804,4712,62,22799,8330,155458,67,132,68,15613,155459],"class_list":{"0":"post-307124","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-ball","9":"tag-batting-practice","10":"tag-brewers","11":"tag-day-ohtani","12":"tag-field","13":"tag-game","14":"tag-mlb","15":"tag-plate","16":"tag-playoff-slump","17":"tag-roberts","18":"tag-shohei-ohtani","19":"tag-sports","20":"tag-start","21":"tag-strikeout","22":"tag-two-way-role","23":"tag-united-states","24":"tag-unitedstates","25":"tag-us","26":"tag-wednesday","27":"tag-woeful-nlds"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115381926133036863","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=307124"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307124\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/307125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=307124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=307124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=307124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}