let's get excited about...shohei otani

players sent to the minors have to stay there 10 days (exceptions for DH 26th men and replacing an injured player). and in any case i don't think they'd want their starter being away from the team like that

https://i.imgur.com/ymfE628.jpg

on the plus side i bet his xFIP is pretty good for that game

His first inning was fantastic tbqf.

lol

EJ:
Obviously the spring is a tiny sample size, but if you were the Angels would you start Ohtani in AAA or in the bigs?

Keith Law:
Don’t care about spring stats, as you know. If he’s not able to figure out this delivery issue – I wrote he’s not repeating it and getting to his release point – before Opening Day, I might leave him in extended spring training to get some one-on-one work in controlled situations. I think sending him to Salt Lake is kind of a bad idea all around, other than that the Buzz’s ownership would be ecstatic.

So first mound appearance will be Sunday afternoon in Oakland.

batting 1.000

getting overpowered by a fastball and sneaking one thru is the new market inefficiency

dummies on LA sports radio were going off on Ohtani a couple weeks ago with hot takes about him not being ready.. wasn't sure why they were so mad. the dude signed for 3m and these dudes were having a meltdown like he signed for 150m.

Pujols is on pace for 162 HRs.

wrong thread i know...

Japanese two-way player Shohei Ohtani, who singled in his first at-bat in the majors on Thursday, was held out because the A's started a left-hander.

Is this gonna be SOP?

1-2-3 inning to start his career

there's no one at the coliseum lol

only 35,000 people saw shohei ohtani's first MLB pitching appearance. and of those 35,000, only about 15,000 even knew who ohtani was. but the other 20,000 people all started their own band

actually yeah it looks like less than 35,000

second inning not going so well

$3M for a closer/pinch hitter is a pretty good deal, imho.

I think he showed he belongs in the rotation.

he's allowed 3 runs through 5 innings (all on a home run), struck out 6, walked 1, hit the high 90s with his fastball, struck someone out on an 88 mph changeup, and had wicked breaking pitches! not bad for a first major league start. he belongs in every single MLB rotation and would be the #1 starter on a fair amount of them.

there's no way his arm could take being in the rotation for every team

Phrasing. pic.twitter.com/0nhaHxOM9i

— Adam (@RonSwansonTrio) April 1, 2018

Will, what do you mean? I think all teams are leaning toward having their ace pitch 180-200 innings, the other starters 160 and under. It's just evolving that way. (Some historically low number threw 162 last year.)

he means literally pitching for every single team

ah the ol' online humor mistranslator!

i am excited about...shohei ohtani

The Show Hey Kid.

there was a pretty questionable discussion of ohtani's physique at the beginning of the inning :/

his homer tonight barely got out but it also was a pretty decent pitch, i wasn't sure he had that in him

was it the Angels' broadcasters, kk?

https://i.imgur.com/eeDVk5X.gifv

haha aww cute

also sorry morbs yeah my joke was dumb he can't pitch for all 30 teams at once (altho i guess if he pitched 1 game per team, 30 games, 5-6 innings each? joke doesn't even track)

oppo off kluber

okay maybe he can hit, so what

AGAIN!

Shohei Ohtani knows a thing about encores. pic.twitter.com/Lmmw5HNecq

— MLB (@MLB) April 4, 2018

damn

Language at 29 seconds -- guess MLB doesn't respect the game.

Bot 2nd: Angels
S. Ohtani homered (435 ft.) to deep center

Mike Trout now the second best player on his team.

whoa nellie, let's wait on that

https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/shohei-ohtani-has-already-verified-something/

In his debut, Ohtani maxed out at 99 mph on the fastball and averaged 97.8 mph on the same pitch while also showcasing a darting, 90 mph splitter and breaking ball. If Ohtani can approximate anything like the 19.6% swinging-strike rate of his debut and continue to exhibit solid command, he will be an ace in short order.

Shohei Ohtani's 112.8 mph single tonight is the #Angels' hardest-hit ball of the season so far. It it their hardest base hit since a 113.6 mph Mike Trout single last August 30.

— David Adler (@_dadler) April 4, 2018

jesus

perfect thru 5, i think?

how's anybody ever hit this guy

also, 10 K

pitchers are still ahead of hitters though at this point in the season

i think

thru 6

Damn

shame

12 Ks 😯

Thinking I should maybe start paying attention to this guy.

in a playoff game, if shohei was pitching, would you really have pujols dh for him? not sure i would