Angels right-hander/slugger Shohei Ohtani has progressed to long tossing from a distance of 180 feet and is following those sessions up with higher-intensity throws from 60 feet, pitching coach Mickey Callaway told reporters on Tuesday (Twitter links via Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register and Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com). The next step for the righty would be to throw off a mound, and while Callaway didn’t put a specific timetable on when that might happen, he noted that it should be “soon.”
Ohtani, 25, hasn’t pitched in a game since Sept. 2, 2018, due to Tommy John surgery that wiped out his entire 2019 campaign — at least on the mound. He, of course, was able to return as the team’s primary designated hitter for much of the season and turned in a generally excellent year, hitting .286/.343/.505 with 18 home runs and a dozen steals in 425 plate appearances.
To this point, it seems as though things are generally on track with expectations put forth just prior to camp. At the time, it was believed that the Angels had been targeting a mid-May return to the big league rotation for the two-way star, and a move to mound sessions in the near future seemingly keeps him on that timeline. With fellow righty Griffin Canning resuming a throwing program after a UCL scare of his own, the Angels are trending in the direction of a full-strength rotation featuring Ohtani, Canning, Andrew Heaney, Julio Teheran and Dylan Bundy to begin the year.
Ohtani has still started just 10 games in his MLB career, although the 51 2/3 innings he tossed were quite promising. During that time, he logged a 3.31 ERA with 11.0 K/9, 3.8 BB/9, 1.05 HR/9 and a 39.2 percent ground-ball rate. Ohtani also turned in a stellar 15.2 percent swinging-strike rate that trailed only Max Scherzer, Chris Sale and Patrick Corbin among starters with at least 50 innings pitched.
286/18 is an excellent year ?
How is that not excellent. He only played 106 games and he was 23% better than the average hitter last year
Since when would being 23% above average put him in a Trout category of excellence?
How many excellent players graded out that way last year….we have so many new statistical ways of making anyone look “excellent” what exactly do you use for a universal barometer of who’s really good when you actually see them play and who’s touted as good when you look at statistics on a piece of paper?
Huh? .286/18 is an excellent year that many hitters only dream of – 77% of them in fact.
No one with a clue measures things based on batting average and home runs.
He was 55th out of 207 in wRC+. That puts him a little above Pham, Castellanos, Kepler and Grandal and a little behind Chapman, Harper, Torres and Dozier.
No, not excellent. He was good last year.
If he played a full season. He would’ve hit 30HRs as a future ACE. I don’t think that is just excellent, he is reincarnation of Ruth.
Agreed, so far he’s looking like a good player….but Wow, future ACE? 30 Home runs for sure?
Maybe you can say he’s the best pitcher the Angles have to offer, but after a whole pitching repertoire of 10 games and 51 innings when no team had seen him throw before and didn’t have a book on him, a bit premature to start measuring him for Cooperstown as a pitcher.
He may be a very good all around athlete but all these accolades that are thrown around describing him need to be earned before being bestowed upon him. All he’s proved so far is that there is potential for being an upper echelon baseball player.
Rocky, he’s as likely to be an ace as any other young pitcher in baseball.
He was the number one pitching prospect in baseball.
So if he’s not a future ace, then you can’t call anyone a future ace.
so everyone is a potential future Ace. got it.
every gm including one of your favorite team thought he was. every team chased him as a future ace with great hitting. hey, you are not the only jealous one!
I agree with you with the exception of him being the #1 pitching prospect in baseball….he was hailed as a phenom because he is the first 2 way player in a long, long time.
Also, remember, he is anything but a rookie with the experience he has in the Japanese leagues.
Finally, he may very well be a future ace but wouldn’t you agree he should earn it based on a longer pallet of work than 51 innings in MLB?
Just cause you people hate your wife and she is sitting right next to you, cause of this stay
at home order, doesn’t mean you can troll these articles looking for payback. She doesn’t like you either, so just leave!
Rocky,
I don’t think you remember his write ups correctly.
People were skeptical about his ability as a hitter.
His hit tool on fangraphs topped out at 40,
The first hitter to have a max hit tool at 40 was the 61st ranked prospect.
Perhaps the correct word is potential. There a a handful of players that experts consider a potential ace, Ohtani is part of that group.
@rocky7 Ohtani throws 100mph and his split finger is one of the most unhittable pitches in baseball. When you possess these type tools you will likely be labeled as a potential ace. Not many pitchers in baseball have the same ceiling as Ohtani. There are a couple of concerns. Can he stay l healthy? Also, he bulked up a lot this offseason. Bulk is not always a good thing in baseball.
Yup, you are right on, Gary……… except Babe Ruth actually played a full season…… for 22 seasons.
Ohtani has played….. wait…. none? Ever? Yup, not a one in MLB…. but hey, seasons played are an old statistic.
Judge – You can’t ignore the several full seasons he played in Japan. I know that doesn’t fit your agenda, but they count.
‘Generally excellent’ given that he had Tom John sufer that offseason and was rehabbing all year.
With 450 or so AB’s that’s generally really darn good.
For a pitcher, yes.
In a shortened season, is it possible the Angels get by with 5-7 starting pitchers including the overwhelming majority of starts coming from the 1-5 guys in the rotation?
Not having to use starters 8-14 from AAA & AA would be a welcome break from the last few years.
Throws absolute dots.
He has at least three elite pitches. Not too many pitchers can say that.
Quite true. His fastball, splitter and slider can all grade double plus. I don’t know of anyone else in baseball with 3 double plus pitches. He has all of the talent to be an ACE and one of the best pitchers in baseball. Now he just has to do it.
The Angels certainly need it because they have almost no other pitching besides him.
I’m not sure a shortened season helps any team more than the Angels. Everything’s coming up Eppler right now.
It helps the A’s a great deal. There was no way that Puk, Luzardo and Manea were expected to throw much more than 100 innings.
It’s why I was more dismissive of the A’s than most. I’m not dismissive anymore.
There are some major knuckleheads on this board doubting Ohtani’s greatness. Please, spend time on your Mariner/A/Ranger/Astro fan chat site of preference and allow us Halo fans the opportunity to bask in the greatness of both Trout and Ohtani.
Don’t forget Simmons, Rendon, Fletcher et al.
For starters, no pun intended, it’s hard to be great from the IL.
Angels have potential yet enormous question marks at pitching. Nearly every Angels fan on this site gloss over that with the, “Ohtani is an ace and Canning is this and this other guy is that…”. I’m not a fan out of the AL West, but Angel fans are in-denial and it has become repetitive.
Bask in the greatness all you want. Your team has been stuck in the middle of the pack for a while and have absolutely no leg to stand on. Being hopeful is nice but being in-denial of what your team is and has been is a bad look.
Guest.
Pitchers are volatile and miss more often than they hit. The A’s haven’t produced a good quality starter in more than 15 years. They did get a couple years out of Gray, but then they shipped him off.
The A’s think they have three or four quality pitchers ready, three from the IL, one from PED suspension and they have EVERY reason to be optimistic.
The Angels haven’t had a LH with the stuff of Heaney since Finley. They have NEVER had a pitcher with more stuff than Ohtani. Not Chance or Ryan or Tanana. Canning is simply a 50th prospect. Most teams are excited about a 50th prospect, but the Angels can’t be?
Terheran has been solid, was the opening day starter of the Braves last year. Bundy has two elite pitches and is getting out of Baltimore.
If you can’t see why Angel fans have optimism, that’s on you. Because it’s pretty easy to see.
Stuff? Ok there.
Look around, 29 teams have pitchers with stuff. Perform. Perform. Perform. Angels have not performed on the mound. You and others are asking for a lot. And you’ve wanted, hoped and asked for the staff to remain healthy, be great and push your Halos to the postseason. After all this time, why haven’t you learned?
Instead of saying “this is the year” for the hundredth time, maybe the outlook should be a wee bit tempered? You’re boosting Bundy and Teheran similar to many who lifted Harvey and Cahill last year. How about stop!? You’d be lucky to have the 3rd best rotation in your own division. Your optimism borders on delusion.
Stop? I think you know the difference between confident and optimistic.
The A’s fans should be optimistic they will have a very good staff this year. However, since three are coming off significant injuries and one is coming back from a PED suspension, I have no idea how they are so confident.
I’m optimistic the Angels will have a solid to good staff. I’m not confident.
Do you really have an issue with fans being optimistic? Seriously, it’s you who needs to stop challenging fans who are optimistic. Challenging optimistic fans vs confident fans are two completely different things.
Good news. We should have a full rotation when the season starts in May.
One of the silver linings of this seasonal delay is Ohtani has a chance to open the 2020 season (if there is one) in the Angels rotation.
Whether or not his season was excellent or just good last year, he is fun to watch. How often have we seen someone that is “good” as a everyday player and a pitcher every fifth day when healthy? This is as news worthy as when Bo Jackson was playing football and baseball.
Ohtani WILL be an elite ace. Write it down.