Blowtani

[Jay]

Ohtani just needs to be ready by July 12, "OHTANI DOUBLE BOBBLEHEAD" night.

 

[Puget Sound Angel]

I keep telling myself all the scouts were totally sold on this guy.

[tdawg87]

1 hour ago, Chuckster70 said:

19 K's in 8 innings. 3 walks, 4 HR's and a shit ton of doinks.

It's spring FACKING training and he's 23 years old making adjustments on the fly. 

Three years ago he was making our all-stars look like fools up at the plate. 

I'M NOT WORRIED. 

8 INNINGS

[bloodbrother]

58 minutes ago, Dochalo said:

I'm far more worried about our bullpen.  

Ohtani may struggle a bit, but the talent is there at least.  

yeah the pen is a huge concern. Last spring we saw a few guys pitch their way onto the team in Bud Norris, Parker, and Petit. This season it seems like nobody is earning a spot. Middleton's been abysmal and Parker is getting torched too

 

[Angels#1Fan]

1 hour ago, Chuckster70 said:

19 K's in 8 innings. 3 walks, 4 HR's and a shit ton of doinks.

It's spring FACKING training and he's 23 years old making adjustments on the fly. 

Three years ago he was making our all-stars look like fools up at the plate. 

I'M NOT WORRIED. 

Exactly!

If at the end of ST and Ohtani is still struggling then he should be sent down but not a minute beforehand.

People have been pushing the panic button for a week now and it's just too early.

Some here need to just chill out and wait and see what happens.

[Sully151]

Meh, the entire pitching staff is cat fishing us and all of the other teams. They are just pretending to be shit. When the real baseball starts, lights out.

[tdawg87]

Just now, Sully151 said:

Meh, the entire pitching staff is cat fishing us and all of the other teams. They are just pretending to be shit. When the real baseball starts, lights out.

My cousin has been playing Xbox with the entire Angels pitching staff, and they're playing us all. They're gonna drop the hammer this year.

[totdprods]

Jesus, guys. Chill out haha. 

One of the most exciting things about Ohtani is we're getting an unfinished product. There's a plus and a minus to that. When guys like Nomo, Matsuzaka, Darvish, Matsui, Ichiro came over...they were pretty much already developed. They were able to step in and produce like above-average MLBers, a couple of them stars,, but they were at their ceiling, and in many cases, only really had a good couple of years before they topped out. The results were mixed. We're getting what essentially amounts to a top prospect. We're not realistically going to get Darvish/TORP production in Year One, nor George Springer-projection at the plate.  George Springer was in AAA at age 23, Darvish was two years away from his first MLB pitch.

The bright side is we're also likelier to get a player who is better in the long-run for it, as he'll get to develop against better talent and MLB pitching. It was easy to get excited about what he could be in the context of our offseason, but we are realistically more like an 82-90 win team, and not the 90-95+ win team we hoped with an elite Darvish hitting and pitching - but we could be in a year or two. 

Enjoy the ride - what he's doing is unprecedented. Don't send him to SLC - he has nothing to prove there. He's been dominating equivalent talent for years. Get him a full season in the bigs and let him acclimate, let him learn, let him continue to try something that no one has done in 100 years. It won't be easy, and he's more than likely going to have an up and down year, but it will be special in the long run.

[tdawg87]

51 minutes ago, Throwman91 said:

On a Japanese mound with a Japanese baseball in a Japanese park.  He still has to adjust to the MLB ways and it's quite different.

So why does this apply to Ohtani but it didn't for Darvish or Tanaka? Those guys went from pitching on the same Japanese mound to pitching in two of the most extreme hitters parks in baseball.

I'm aware that both guys did well in their first Spring Training stints, but then we're getting back to overvaluing spring stats.

[Ohtaniland]

Lol Roger Lodge

 

[tdawg87]

2 minutes ago, OHTANILAND said:

Lol Roger Lodge

 

Why "Lol"? He was.

[Angels#1Fan]

I can't believe all of the panic here given Ohtani has pitched all of 8 innings!

Unreal.

[Ohtaniland]

7 minutes ago, tdawg87 said:

Why "Lol"? He was.

Maybe we should just make him a closer. 

[Fish Oil]

Quick, let's trade him while his value is high.

[tdawg87]

19 minutes ago, OHTANILAND said:

Maybe we should just make him a closer. 

[Troll Daddy]

Nobody is panicking except the posters who aren’t supposedly panicking. We know the talent is there ... some are suggesting he start in the minors for a little seasoning.

Either way I’m onboard 

[Ohtaniland]

16 minutes ago, Fish Oil said:

Quick, let's trade him while his value is high.

Arte should just post him for $30M and call it a day.

[Chuck]

1 hour ago, OHTANILAND said:

 

I really need to get a Fuck You emoticon installed. 

[tdawg87]

It should just be a pic of Claude's face. 

[Blarg]

10 minutes ago, OHTANILAND said:

Arte should just post him for $30M and call it a day.

We should just ban your account and let you be a Blue Monday fan all by yourself. 

[Warfarin]

1 hour ago, totdprods said:

Jesus, guys. Chill out haha. 

One of the most exciting things about Ohtani is we're getting an unfinished product. There's a plus and a minus to that. When guys like Nomo, Matsuzaka, Darvish, Matsui, Ichiro came over...they were pretty much already developed. They were able to step in and produce like above-average MLBers, a couple of them stars,, but they were at their ceiling, and in many cases, only really had a good couple of years before they topped out. The results were mixed. We're getting what essentially amounts to a top prospect. We're not realistically going to get Darvish/TORP production in Year One, nor George Springer-projection at the plate.  George Springer was in AAA at age 23, Darvish was two years away from his first MLB pitch.

The bright side is we're also likelier to get a player who is better in the long-run for it, as he'll get to develop against better talent and MLB pitching. It was easy to get excited about what he could be in the context of our offseason, but we are realistically more like an 82-90 win team, and not the 90-95+ win team we hoped with an elite Darvish hitting and pitching - but we could be in a year or two. 

Enjoy the ride - what he's doing is unprecedented. Don't send him to SLC - he has nothing to prove there. He's been dominating equivalent talent for years. Get him a full season in the bigs and let him acclimate, let him learn, let him continue to try something that no one has done in 100 years. It won't be easy, and he's more than likely going to have an up and down year, but it will be special in the long run.

I agree with you for the most part.  Ohtani is oozing with talent, and there is no doubt he is the top prospect in the game.

However, if he keeps getting blasted in spring training, then I would say it wouldn't hurt to have him start in AAA to help him iron things out.  Why does he have to start the year in the majors?  If he is struggling mightily right now, then I don't see the harm in giving him some time to find himself and hone his craft in AAA for a few weeks.  It's not the end of the world.  I don't understand why that is perceived as considering him a bust?  Many stud prospects have a rough initial start, get sent back down for a bit of time, then come back up and perform much better.  

Again, consider what Ohtani is doing at age 23 - in a new country, acclimating to a new culture, a new language, a new set of teammates, etc etc.  It's a lot to take in all at once, and he has to do it with a ton of media constantly swarming around him.  At least when most top prospects come up, they don't have a giant media cult following documenting their every move.

Give the kid some time to take a breath, take it all in, and work on his craft.  He will be an ace for us down the line, I have no doubt.  Let's not force him into that role immediately though if he isn't quite yet just ready.

[101halo]

I'm not worried, but it is pretty crazy that if he did this at start of regular season and then pitched ~140 consecutive scoreless innings through end of the year his era would still end up around a 1.5.

[Ohtaniland]

Ok so all joking aside. 

I see nothing more than a young inexperienced talented player trying to fit in and fulfill everybody’s high expectations.

I kinda felt from the beginning that he probably should’ve started in AAA spring training but the $20M posting fee, press conference and whatever they promised him certainly wouldn’t allow that to happen. 

I still think he will eventually have what it takes to play at a high level in MLB. I’m a fan of Ohtani and I hope he succeeds even if I have to wait a season or two to see it happen. Still happy about the signing because I believe in time he’ll be a good one. Deep breath peeps. 

[Inside Pitch]

4 hours ago, Throwman91 said:

On a Japanese mound with a Japanese baseball in a Japanese park.  He still has to adjust to the MLB ways and it's quite different.

Dude , the WBC uses Rawlings baseballs .... Same balls used for MLB and they pitch off a regulation mound.   The only differences between the mounds over there is the type of clay they use but they are the same exact height....

I get being concerned but guys get lit up in AZ during Spring Training all the time.   The combination of thin air and altitude can make for some curious results...  Add in all the other crap and it's not a real shock he's been awful.  Dude needs more innings imo.

 

[totdprods]

@Warfarin, I could see him getting AAA time if he's struggling after a couple months, but I don't think uprooting him further by hucking another level of pressure onto him by a last minute change of plans and a detour to SLC is going to help him either. Not at the onset of the year.

The talent is there, the expectations he's placed upon himself are there, and he's ready to *try* to compete against MLB players. He's dominated AAA-equivalent talent at a brilliantly young age. It's best for him and the Angels to give him some patience and give him a shot. If he was a traditional MILB prospect it would be time for him to get his first taste of the bigs anyway.

He/we didn't go through all these hoops and sacrifices for him to be standing on a mound in Utah in April with a 27 ERA wondering what the hell happened. I could see that being as damaging and unnerving for him as taking lumps in the bigs would be.