let's get excited about...shohei otani

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

Scioscia would

probably

I’m not really convinced having ohtani hit on the days he pitches is giving the angels all that much extra value

over the course of the season that makes sense. and you don't want to overwork him. i'm just thinking, in a playoff series.. i kinda want that bat in the game

ya, if he keeps this up – that would make a lot of sense.

in interleague away games, he's gonna bat regardless. looks like the next interleague away series for the Angels is @Coors in May, but it's only a 2-game set. So it's possible that the earliest we'll see him pitch and bat in the same game is @LAD in July.

Thru his first two starts as a pitcher, Shohei Ohtani has worked an 0-2 count in 48.9% of batters faced, more than 2x the MLB average https://t.co/48WTsMvFMm pic.twitter.com/x8cAUfBXnP

— Baseball Reference (@baseball_ref) April 9, 2018

GOATani

a 3-run triple tonight, looks like?

Next pitching once again on a Sunday in KC; I forget the precise meaning of "Sunday pitcher" in the deadball era.

0.4 fWAR hitting and 0.6 pitching, so far

i know it's kind of silly to start looking at that this early, but it's fun.

At what point does Scoscia consider moving him out of the 8th spot?

mid-october.

Moving him into th 8 spot is progressive for soscia otani is a pitcher after all

Pleased about today postponement as it forces the Angels off their lame "every Sunday" shtick. Now S.O. pitches Tuesday night at home vs Boston, with eight days' rest!

shohei don't hurt 'em