by Cary Osborne
We’re still not too far off the floor with Shohei Ohtani the Dodger pitcher.
Imagine what the ceiling is.
Ohtani, in his third start as a Dodger, had some astounding moments on Saturday in Kansas City in his longest outing thus far with the team.
The most impressive was a first-inning-ending ground-ball double play off the bat of Kansas City’s Vinnie Pasquantino.
Ohtani’s 101.7-mph four-seamer was the fastest pitch of his career and the fastest by a Dodger this year.
https://medium.com/media/c9dfd5b6b4b70af6663c5b35adc467b5/href
It was also the seventh-fastest pitch to record an out by a Dodger since 2008, according to Statcast.
The fastest are:
1. Jonathan Broxton: 103.3-mph strikeout on 7/3/09
2. Brusdar Graterol: 102.3-mph strikeout on 9/22/21
T3. Graterol: 101.9-mph strikeout on 6/26/22
T3. Graterol: 101.9-mph groundout on 8/19/21
T3. Broxton: 101.9-mph strikeout on 7/3/09
6. Graterol: 101.8-mph strikeout on 8/19/21
7. Ohtani: 101.7-mph ground-ball double play on Saturday
In the second inning, Ohtani threw a slider to Kansas City’s Nick Loftin that fell off the table. Loftin swung and missed. Ohtani doubled up with a slider that Loftin slapped foul with a defensive swing. Two pitches later, the Dodger right-hander got him to foul out on a sweeper.
Ohtani landed 74.1% strikes in the short outing. He didn’t allow any hard contact. The five balls put in play by the Royals averaged 80.8 mph. The one hit was an 86.6 mph single by Bobby Witt Jr.
The average exit velocity (although it’s a small sample size with 12 batted-ball events) against Ohtani thus far in three games is 84.7 mph. Below 87 mph is elite.
Again, it’s only four innings into Ohtani’s run as a Dodger pitcher.
But it’s been — as all things Ohtani are— fascinating to watch.
https://medium.com/media/e1d7a4770e4fd33fe86af8115a04f3c1/href
Ohtani wows in his third start was originally published in Dodger Insider on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.