The Los Angeles Angels have the unicorn of baseball in Shohei Ohtani. He once again dominated both on the mound and at the plate. But apparently the Angels feel like they didn't get enough out of him. The Angels are planning on continuing to utilize their six man rotation. However, they plan on sending Ohtani out there every six days, according to The Athletic's Sam Blum.
Ohtani put together a phenomenal season, especially as a starter. He finished the season 15-9 with a 2.33 ERA, 1.01 WHIP and struck out 219 batters in just 166 innings. At the dish, Ohtani hit .273 with a .356 on-base percentage. He swatted 34 home runs with 95 RBI's and 90 runs scored. He finished second in the American League MVP behind Aaron Judge.
He notched 28 starts, as he typically pitched once a week. But getting him on the mound every six days likely will get him closer to 31 or 32 starts. That may not sound like a huge difference but for a team lacking starting pitching depth, it certainly can help.
The Angels have been criticized for potentially wasting the prime of both Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout. Trout has only made the playoffs once during his Hall of Fame career and was swept in three games by the Kansas City Royals.
Last season, despite Ohtani's dominating presence, the Angels finished 73-89. That was surprisingly good enough for third place in the AL West. The pitching was the team's biggest problem. They attempted to rectify that by landing Tyler Anderson in free agency. Anderson is coming off the best year of his career.
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