Cole gets staff ’s first look at offensive side of Ohtani
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Gerrit Cole nudged his head toward the computer sitting on the right side of his locker. Astros manager of major league advance information Tom KochWeser sat beneath it, his duty to create series-by-series reports.
“We’re going to rely on Tom,” Cole said, “rely on him for how to pitch Ohtani.”
Shohei Ohtani’s introduction to the Astros will soon be complete.
Barring any unforeseen circumstances, the two-way Angels wunderkind will be in the Angels’ lineup on Tuesday and Wednesday against the Astros, nearly three weeks after he allowed four runs and struck out seven in 51⁄3 innings of an 8-7 win on April 24 inside Min- ute Maid Park.
Ohtani struck out 11 in 61⁄3 innings of Sunday’s 2-1 Angels win over the Twins. He does not hit on the days before or after he pitches, leaving him out of Monday’s lineup against Lance McCullers Jr.
Instead, his reward is Cole and Justin Verlander, owners of the two lowest ERAs in the American League.
“Which will be a nice test for him,” Astros manager A.J. Hinch said with a smile. “But he’s dangerous for a couple different reasons. One, he can leave the ballpark in any direction, and he also has speed. How he’s going to handle velocity or how he’s going to handle all areas of the strike zone where our guys go will be determined, I guess, over the next couple days.”
In 74 plate appearances, Ohtani has a 1.044 OPS and five home runs. His second homer was off two-time Cy Young Award winner Corey Kluber. The fourth came against Luis Severino, the Yankees fireballer who has a 2.14 ERA and twirled a shutout against the Astros on May 2.
“He’s a really special player. He can play at a really high level on both sides of the baseball,” Cole said. “Looks like he’s got a lot of torque to his swing, has a lot of juice.”
Preparing for a hitter with such a small sample size is not foreign — pitchers often face hitters they’ve never seen in their careers. Ohtani’s prestige and the knowledge he’d be seen as a hitter soon allowed the Astros to dissect some of his 69 at-bats and formulate something of a game plan.
“I’m preparing for him like I would prepare for anybody that’s only had that many atbats,” Cole said. “When you look, you don’t look too hard; a lot of this game is feel. I’ll probably have a game plan, (but) I have to make adjustments at the same time.”
Springer returns to starting lineup
Three days after he was hit by a 92 mph fastball on his left elbow, George Springer returned to the Astros’ starting lineup on Monday, leading off and playing center field in the series opener against the Angels.
Sidelined for the final two games of the Rangers series this past weekend, Springer arrived at Angel Stadium for early batting practice, manager A.J. Hinch said, a final hurdle cleared to ensure his return to the top of the lineup card.
“It is nice to have him back,” Hinch said. “I think he’ll have an elbow guard tonight. He might have learned his lesson there, but it’s always nice to have him kick-start our offense.”
The two games Springer missed due to the elbow contusion were his first absences of the season. Springer was available to pinch-hit and pinch-run in Sunday’s 6-1 series-clinching win over the Rangers, but a need to use him never arose.