Blister? Ohtani crushes HR, 4 RBIs vs. Jays

There has been much attention focused on when Angels two-way player Shohei Ohtani can be back on the mound. Ohtani is dealing with a blister that has pushed back his next start, but Angels manager Joe Maddon said the ailment hasn’t affected Ohtani’s ability to swing a bat.

The Japanese star proved that after a huge offensive night on Friday.

Ohtani went 2-for-5 at the plate with a home run, double and four RBIs in the Angels’ 7-1 win over the Blue Jays.

He has gotten off to a hot offensive start this season, slashing .300/.344/.700 with three home runs and eight RBIs in 32 total plate appearances compared to a down year in 2020 where he slashed just .190/.291/.366 with seven home runs.

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Ohtani said a difference this season is his better use of his lower half to drive the ball. He said knee surgery that he had at the end of the 2019 season limited his mobility in 2020, but now those issues have been overcome.

"After going through the whole season last year, I felt like my knee was the biggest issue coming off the surgery, so I was pretty limited to what I could do,” Ohtani said through his interpreter Ippei Mizuhara.

The left-handed slugger gave the Angels an early lead in a prime RBI situation. In the second inning, Ohtani hammered a ball to center that bounced off the wall and cleared the bases with a three-run double for an early 4-0 lead.

Ohtani was seemingly fooled and was out in front. But even with a one-handed swing he was able to send a double off the wall with a 98.3 mph exit velocity.

“In the wonderful descriptive words of Buddy Black, that was ‘One Hand Fred,’ so [Ohtani] ‘One-Hand-Fred’d’ it to the right-center-field wall,” Maddon said. “Once he flicked it, you knew it was going to be at least off the wall, maybe more than that, but he is pretty strong.”

He continued his offensive showcase in the fifth inning. On the first pitch of the at-bat against T.J. Zeuch, Ohtani sent a sinker 422 feet over the center-field wall to bring his season totals to three homers and eight RBIs. The solo home run left Ohtani’s bat at 108.2 mph, according to Statcast.

This year, Ohtani has had an exit velocity on a ball reach 115.2 mph and he has barreled 29.4 percent of pitches he’s made contact with, which is good enough to be ranked in the top 2 percent of the league for each category.

Maddon said Ohtani’s ability at the plate to make hard contact has been a factor in the early-season success.

“Ohtani’s got a very forceful swing,” Maddon said. “It’s definitely not a sugar-coated swing. He’s attacking the pitch.”