OC Register: Shohei Ohtani’s early swings don’t look like last year, Maddon says

[AngelsWin.com]

ANAHEIM — After the first games of the season, in which Shohei Ohtani hit a few balls hard and also seemed to be losing his balance in his swing, Joe Maddon said he’s not worried.

During Ohtani’s struggles last season, he often seemed to be stepping toward first base as he unleashed big swings. He struck out in about one-third of his at-bats.

On Friday, Ohtani hit a couple balls more than 100 mph – including one that went over the right-field fence – but he also struck out three times.

He was 1 for 9 in the two games, although one hard smash he hit down the right-field line could have been ruled a triple instead of an error on the first baseman.

“What you’re seeing I think is a function of where the ball is being pitched,” Maddon said before Saturday’s game. “I don’t see him bailing like I saw last year. I’m still seeing a swing with a lot of good force in it. For me, it’s completely different than just when he spun off the ball a lot last year.”

Ohtani said it’s not a change in his approach from spring training, when all his homers and most of his hits were to center and left field.

“I think it’s just where the pitches have been pitched,” he said before Saturday’s game.

Ohtani was in the lineup to hit again Saturday, even though he is scheduled to pitch Sunday. Maddon said Ohtani told him he wanted to play, and the Angels this year are trusting him to manage his rest rather than imposing the kind of rules they had on him when he was a two-way player in 2018.

As for the blister that Ohtani said affected him during his final exhibition start, Ohtani said he threw a bullpen session during the week “with no issues. I think we’re fine.”

NOTES

Maddon said he won’t make a habit of using closer Raisel Iglesias in non-save situations, as he did Friday night, but in that case he felt all the elements were aligned to try it. He felt the Angels had done such good work to cut a 7-1 deficit to 7-6 that he wanted to give them the best chance to win. He also thought White Sox closer Liam Hendriks may have been more vulnerable because he’d pitched the eighth and the top of the Angels order was due. …

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Felix Peña (hamstring) has been throwing long toss and running at 100%. He is scheduled for a bullpen session soon. …

Franklin Barreto (elbow) has been doing rehab exercises, but still won’t throw for another four weeks. Barreto was placed on the 60-day injured list.

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