At this point, it might be in everyone's best interest to start asking: “what can't Shohei Ohtani do?”
The Los Angeles Angels' ace/cleanup hitter and dual threat is currently locked with the New York Yankees' Aaron Judge in a neck-and-neck MVP race. Ohtani is arguably the most unique player in MLB history, with the 28-year old Japanese international setting records no one has ever touched and is well on the way to setting more. Out of all qualified hitters, Ohtani also leads the Angels in almost every relevant statistic.
What should scare the league, however, is Ohtani's almost-robotic sense of improvement.
On August 31, Ohtani faced Yankees closer Clay Holmes in the bottom of the eighth inning, with the Angels leading the Yankees, 3-2. In an 0-1 count, Holmes threw a nasty 100-mph sinker that swerved towards the outside of the plate, eliciting an almost playful acknowledgement from Ohtani.
Clay Holmes's 100mph Sinker.
And, Ohtani's face when he looks at the scoreboard to see that was 100mph. 😳😂 pic.twitter.com/LzVw3PnsSC
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) September 1, 2022
Holmes probably should not have thrown that pitch, because Ohtani, the human cheat code, would take parts of what makes a good player great and incorporate it into his game, similar to how Tekken 3's Ancient Ogre defeats gifted martial-arts practitioners and absorbs their abilities.
Now, Shohei Ohtani has a 100-mph sinker in his repertoire, as noted by Rob Friedman, the “Pitching Ninja”. The addition of the sinker was something he didn't need in the first place what with him being an elite pitcher already. Scary times for the MLB.
Pitch Design 101: Shohei developing his 100 mph Sinker.
It's that easy. pic.twitter.com/ddB5k9qLC8
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) September 4, 2022
For reference, Friedman also posted a video comparing Ohtani's four-seamer and his newly developed sinker, and, oh boy, the difference in pitch movement is astounding.
Shohei Ohtani, 100mph Four Seam Fastball and 100mph Sinker, Overlay. pic.twitter.com/YhzusD8cP6
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) September 4, 2022
Friedman said that Ohtani's sinker had “21 inches of horizontal movement with significant drop of 20 inches with gravity” while also adding that the Angels star's sinker had the “most horizontal movement of any strikeout pitch thrown that fast in MLB in more than three years”. Simply put, Ohtani's 100-mph sinker is nasty.
Shohei Ohtani will now hope that as he continues to flesh out his pitching repertoire, the Angels find a way to acquire more pieces that would vault the Angels into contention so they could make the most out of Ohtani and centerfielder Mike Trout's primes.
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