Some gamers who're struggling on the plate will punctuate a strikeout or popup by snapping their bat in half over their knee. Not Shohei Ohtani, who will need to have taken some type of Hippocratic Oath to do no hurt to his lumber.
The Angels’ two-way star, who has gotten off to a sluggish begin to 2022, opted for a extra therapeutic strategy throughout Monday night time’s recreation towards the Miami Marlins — performing CPR on his bat throughout the sixt inning, correct two-hand compressions and all, within the dugout, a lot to the delight of teammates.
“I beloved it,” Angels first baseman Jared Walsh mentioned Tuesday. “And I additionally love that ... I don’t need to communicate for him, nevertheless it looks as if he’s gotten actually comfy within the U.S. enjoying. I don’t know if we'd have seen that in 2018. So I feel it’s cool that the followers are attending to see his character like we do.”
Mentioned catcher Kurt Suzuki: “That was a fairly good one. That was fairly humorous. He’s only a jokester like that. It’s good to see him free and having enjoyable, stuff like that.”
Ohtani, the reigning American League most beneficial participant, is batting .143 (three for 21) with no homers, one double, no RBIs, 5 strikeouts and no walks getting into Tuesday afternoon’s recreation towards the Marlins.
Did the truth that he was in a position to make gentle of his gradual begin versus expressing extra outward shows of frustration ship a message to the workforce?
“No query about it,” Walsh mentioned. “I imply, what you don’t notice earlier than you play within the main leagues is that everyone struggles. I’ve seen Mike [Trout] undergo some tough patches. When you can deal with it like [Ohtani] and have enjoyable with it, understanding that the nice instances are going to return, the unhealthy instances are going to return, then you definately crack the code.”
The Angels have little question that Ohtani’s bat can be revived. The slugger batted .257 with a .965 on-base-plus-slugging proportion, 46 homers, 26 doubles, three triples, 100 RBIs, 103 runs and 26 stolen bases final season, and he’s too good of a hitter to wrestle for lengthy.
He additionally hit the toughest ball of his profession towards the Houston Astros on Sunday, a 119.1-mph laser that one-hopped the right-field wall for a ground-rule double, so he seems to be reclaiming his timing.
“I imply, he’s solely performed 5 video games,” Suzuki mentioned. “You’re gonna undergo stretches throughout the season the place you wrestle for 10 video games, you already know? So, 5 days actually doesn’t imply something. Clearly, he desires to get off to begin, however you might have one good recreation and also you’re again as much as .300 once more.
“I don’t assume there’s any stress. He is aware of how good he's. Everyone knows how good he's. It’s only a matter of time.”
Quick hops
The Angels put shortstop David Fletcher on the 10-day injured record due to a left hip pressure earlier than Tuesday’s recreation and recalled infielder Andrew Velazquez from triple-A Salt Lake. Fletcher departed Monday night time’s recreation within the seventh inning due to the harm. Velazquez, acquired from the New York Yankees throughout the offseason, will begin at shortstop Tuesday. … Trout returned to Tuesday’s lineup after lacking Monday night time’s recreation due to a abdomen bug.
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