Ohtani gives Braves a taste of the deep ball

LOS ANGELES – It’s difficult to put a calculated finger on the worth of Major League Baseball megastar Shohei Ohtani. The Los Angeles Dodgers had a pretty strong inkling of what that worth was when they signed Ohtani off the free agency market for a reported $700 million deal.     

That’s a lot of dough. But so far, the former two-time American League Most Valuable Player is delivering on his end. The dividends have been decisive and have worked out favorably for the Dodgers and their fans. 

Thanks to the hot bats of Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Max Muncy, the Dodgers have widened their lead over second-place San Diego Padres in the National League West. And Ohtani has his stroke going. 

As a result, the Dodgers are rolling. Ohtani’s latest impressive offering came against the Atlanta Braves, now in second place in the National League East. A day after blasting a home run against the Braves, Ohtani clapped back at Atlanta for two more dingers in a 5-1 win for the Dodgers. 

“I just think that we’re playing overall really well. So that’s helping me to have quality at-bats and just feeling good overall,” Ohtani said through his interpreter. 

Ohtani hit home runs in two of the three home games against the Braves and now has powered 10 home runs on the season. The two home runs he slugged against Atlanta marked the 17th time that Ohtani has had multi-homer games in his career. 

Dodgers pitcher James Paxton, who pitched six and two-third innings against the Braves and is undefeated on the season (4-0), had nothing but superlatives for Ohtani after the game. 

“It’s awesome,” Paxton said of Ohtani being part of the Dodgers. “So much power. He’s a great teammate and I’m glad he’s on our side.” 

Besides going deep in the first and eighth innings, Ohtani collected four hits in his four at-bats. Both of Ohtani’s home runs were to the opposite field. something he says allows him to go after other pitches.  

“When I feel confident that I can hit in that direction then I know I cover up other pitches really well,” Ohtani remarked.    

If there was any type of trepidation about Ohtani coming over and successfully adjusting to the pitching coming from National League pitchers after playing his first six seasons in the American League with the Los Angeles Angels, Ohtani has answered the bell. 

He sits on top of Major League Baseball in hits and is tied for first in home runs. For the season, Ohtani is hitting .364 and has a slugging percentage of .685. From the looks of it, Ohtani has made going from the American League to the National League a smooth transition. 

After watching Ohtani work his unthinkable wonders with the two home runs he knocked out of the park, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts seemed to have run out of superlatives to describe the Japanese slugger. 

Ohtani’s most impressive hit was the deep blast he launched against Atlanta reliever A.J. Minter that defied logic in the bottom of the eighth inning.   

“He just keeps doing things that we haven’t seen before,” Roberts said in his postgame press conference. “Minter…fastball. Middle, middle, and he just took a really good swing and it was 111 [mph], 112 [mph] off the bat. That’s deep. People don’t hit the ball out there. Whether you’re right-handed or left-handed, day game or night game. The wind was actually kind of pushing it from left to right. So, he really got into that one. You can just see Shohei’s at-bat quality…he’s using the whole field.”

Top Image Caption: Shohei Ohtani at the plate against the Atlanta Braves on May 4, 2024. Photo credit: Melinda Meijer/News4usonline