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Shohei Ohtani continues to be the talk of the baseball universe. The San Diego Padres will finally get to see the Los Angeles Angels unicorn in action this season when Juan Soto and company face off against him to in a three-game series at Petco Park Monday night.
Speaking of Soto, the Padres star outfielder sent a bit of a warning to Ohtani ahead of the highly anticipated matchup.
“He’s going to have trouble facing this lineup tomorrow,” Juan Soto told reporters on Sunday (h/t Talkin' Baseball).
Ohtani will be starting as a pitcher for the Angels in Game 2 of the Padres series, and it will also be the first time that the likes of Juan Soto, Fernando Tatis Jr., and Manny Machado will have an official at-bat against the Angels do-it-all superstar. Meanwhile, Xander Bogaerts is a career 1-for-6 against Ohtani, while Matt Carpenter is 1-for-2. Others on the Padres roster who have the experience of starting across Ohtani from the plate are Nelson Cruz (0-for-2), Rougned Odor (0-for-1), and Gary Sanchez (0-for-2).
The trio of Juan Soto, Tatis, and Machado is indeed going to be a tough challenge even for a pitcher of Ohtani's caliber. Soto leads the Padres this season with a .926 OPS. His discipline at the plate will be a big test for Ohtani, whose walk rate as a pitcher has gone up a bit from 10.8 percent in 2022 to 11.9% in 2023. Ohtani will enter Monday's game with a 7-3 record and a 3.02 ERA in 16 starts, so far in the 2023 MLB season.
