Ohtani and Opening Day

[m0nkey]

Won't happen.

 

[Taylor]

I heard that Craig also won't be able to attend Opening Day this year.

[Glen]

I've had a few "dry swings" in my life.

In before "weightless treadmill."

[m0nkey]

4 minutes ago, Taylor said:

I heard that Craig also won't be able to attend Opening Day this year.

Source? @Tank?

[Tank]

24 minutes ago, m0nkey said:

Source? @Tank?

i can confirm that this has yet to be confirmed.

[Tank]

28 minutes ago, Glen said:

I've had a few "dry swings" in my life.

In before "weightless treadmill."

moving to the vasectomy thread.

[Homebrewer]

He'll be ready by May 1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2020

[AngelArcher]

1 hour ago, Glen said:

I've had a few "dry swings" in my life.

In before "weightless treadmill."

Bandless resistance band training 

[Taylor]

This thread is already a winner. Nice work, crew!

[Angel Oracle]

He supposedly will start swinging a bat in 3 weeks, which will be just under a week after position players report.

I'm guessing he will go on the 15 day DL to start the season, and be ready to DH right around the time the 15 days is up.

[Blarg]

He might be assigned the the 66ers before he plays in Anaheim. If so I will be at those games for sure. 

[Tank]

2 hours ago, Blarg said:

He might be assigned the the 66ers before he plays in Anaheim. If so I will stop by and pick up Tank and drive my new and improved Triumph so we can both be at those games for sure. 

hey, that's awesome. thanks, buddy.

[Jeff Fletcher]

5 hours ago, Blarg said:

He might be assigned the the 66ers before he plays in Anaheim. If so I will be at those games for sure. 

I highly doubt he plays in the minors. 

Remember, he doesn’t need to play the field so he doesn’t really need game situations. He just needs live pitching, when he can get in extended spring. 

[Vegas Halo Fan]

8 hours ago, Angel Oracle said:

I'm guessing he will go on the 15 day DL to start the season, and be ready to DH right around the time the 15 days is up.

In other words, about the time that Pujols hits the DL.

[Second Base]

This is what I've been able to dig up so far. The expected progression won't be a surprise to many here that have played. It begins with strength and flexibility exercises, then moves to dry swings, then moves to a tee, then front toss, then machine pitching, then machine pitching with breaking balls, then live pitching, then game time scenario. 

There isn't a specific timeline, but each step takes a couple weeks to progress through. So he'll likely start hitting off the tee in mid February, front toss by the start of March. Machine pitching in mid March. Live pitching in early April, game ready by the third or last week of April.

But as we've seen so many times before, guys that don't get a Spring Training, end up suffering for it. Players need game situations, even if they're just going through them motions. Your typical player gets nearly a month and a half of ST, or a month of game time scenarios before the season starts. Expecting Ohtani to be ready to produce after two weeks is foolish in my opinion. 

If Shohei is back in the lineup April 20th-ish, I think it might be May 15th before he is back in 2018 form. 

[Jeff Fletcher]

2 minutes ago, Second Base said:

Your typical player gets nearly a month and a half of ST, or a month of game time scenarios before the season starts.

Except Ohtani is only a DH. He can get 7-8 DH at-bats a day in extended spring training and minor league spring training. 

It accelerates the process significantly. 

I could see him being in the lineup around April 20-25 and being a little rusty for maybe a week.

Also don’t forget: this guy is a freak of nature. He made a significant change in his swing (eliminating the leg kick) in about 3 days.

[Pancake Bear]

9 minutes ago, Second Base said:

This is what I've been able to dig up so far. The expected progression won't be a surprise to many here that have played. It begins with strength and flexibility exercises, then moves to dry swings, then moves to a tee, then front toss, then machine pitching, then machine pitching with breaking balls, then live pitching, then game time scenario. 

There isn't a specific timeline, but each step takes a couple weeks to progress through. So he'll likely start hitting off the tee in mid February, front toss by the start of March. Machine pitching in mid March. Live pitching in early April, game ready by the third or last week of April.

But as we've seen so many times before, guys that don't get a Spring Training, end up suffering for it. Players need game situations, even if they're just going through them motions. Your typical player gets nearly a month and a half of ST, or a month of game time scenarios before the season starts. Expecting Ohtani to be ready to produce after two weeks is foolish in my opinion. 

If Shohei is back in the lineup April 20th-ish, I think it might be May 15th before he is back in 2018 form. 

Pitchers need that much time, batters do not. But with Shohei’s unique rehab, that could delay him slightly.

[Second Base]

42 minutes ago, Jeff Fletcher said:

Except Ohtani is only a DH. He can get 7-8 DH at-bats a day in extended spring training and minor league spring training. 

It accelerates the process significantly. 

I could see him being in the lineup around April 20-25 and being a little rusty for maybe a week.

Also don’t forget: this guy is a freak of nature. He made a significant change in his swing (eliminating the leg kick) in about 3 days.

Yeah, that's one I still can't fully wrap my mind around. How can Ohtani suddenly remove a major loading and timing mechanism from the swing that he's had since he was a child, and in less than a week be one of the best hitter in MLB? Or how does Mike Trout suddenly decide he's not going to strike out as much anymore, and then just does it.....No huge complicated secret or revelation.

Summing it up by saying that some guys are just amazing sells those two short. They're the amazing, among the amazing. Specifically in Ohtani's case, he's still only 24. He isn't done getting better. Mike Trout likely isn't yet either, but circumstantially, Shohei definitely isn't.

So you're right, because of that, a Ohtani could very well could step into the batters box in 2019 coming off surgery and reach an entirely new level.