IT’S A NO SHO ON MOUND
Yankees won’t face Ohtani as pitcher, but get his fearsome bat
ANAHEIM — Good news for the Yankees, bad news for the general baseball watching public.
The Angels announced on Monday that Shohei Ohtani will not make his scheduled start on Tuesday. While he will still hit, Ohtani is being kept off the mound after getting hit by a pitch on his throwing hand over the weekend. Angels manager Joe Maddon wants to guard against any further issues with Ohtani’s hand and wrist area, which has reportedly been sore since getting hit by a fastball from San Diego’s Ryan Weathers.
“Pitching is going to be problematic,” Maddon told the Los Angeles Times. “So we’ll just have him hit until he’s ready to pitch again.”
With the ball in his hand this season, Ohtani has been worth 2.4 Wins Above Replacement, according to FanGraphs. His 3.00 ERA (8th), 29.9 K% (5th), .190 opponents’ average (2nd) and 1.06 WHIP (6th) are all in the upper echelon of American League pitchers with at least 100 innings on their 2021 odometer.
With the bat in his hand, he’s been 4.8 Wins Above Replacement. All he’s done is hit 42 home runs — most in the major leagues — and slug an American League-best .626 while becoming the first Angel ever to hit 40 dingers and swipe 20 bags in the same season.
When asked on Monday if it was a relief for him and the Yankees hitters to not have to face Ohtani, manager Aaron Boone warned against the dangers of thinking like that.
“He’s in the middle of a great season on both sides. He’s capable of great things but it’s ‘careful what you wish for,’” Boone said. “Hopefully for Shohei’s sake, and the Angels, this isn’t something that keeps him out for too long.”
Essentially, the manager who’s been around the game since he was a small child knows that getting too excited about missing another team’s ace can lead a team to complacency.
“This is a hard game. Whoever we’re facing, we have to be ready,” Boone wished. “I try not to react to it because this game will come around on you.”
That, of course, doesn’t mean that Boone isn’t appreciative of the things Ohtani has done this season. The Yankees were on the wrong end of one of his towering home runs in the series opener. Ohtani unloaded on former teammate Andrew Heaney for a 111.8 mile per hour aerial display.
Keeping Ohtani off the mound on Tuesday is the safe move for Maddon and the Angels, even if the longtime baseball man knows that he’s depriving people of a spectacle they may only see once in a lifetime.
“There’s no reason or want to push him,” Maddon wisely said on Monday. “I do know, he wants to play, he wants to pitch. Plus, the guy’s in the running for some pretty big personal awards right now. I don’t ever want to get in the way of anybody’s greatness. So I will continue to listen to him and make our judgements and decisions based on that.”
Based on his numbers, Ohtani is a clear-cut favorite for American League MVP. Based on Aaron Boone’s opinion, Ohtani might be the most gifted player he’s ever seen.
“It’s remarkable. It’s hard to wrap my brain around it, honestly,” Boone gushed. “I was having a conversation with Tim Salmon earlier, it’s hard for us to relate as one-way players,” he said of the former Angels outfielder and current broadcaster. “I can’t imagine having to worry about my arm and get ready to pitch every week, especially given the quality of starting pitcher he is. He’s more talented than just about everyone.”
The Angels will instead roll with Jaime Barria on Tuesday night, who is decidedly not an MVP candidate or more talented than just about everyone. Barria will share the slab with Jameson Taillon, a matchup that is all Yankees on paper, but as the last few days have shown us, anything can happen in the bizarre world of baseball.