“All that stuff makes him extremely dangerous” - Dave Roberts reflects on Shohei Ohtani’s consistent impact and dominant batting prowess
Shohei Ohtani is a mercurial talent in baseball and has been flourishing under the leadership of manager Dave Roberts this season in the MLB with the Los Angeles Dodgers. LA signed him to one of the biggest contracts in US sports history this past offseason, and the two-way ace is already returning the favor with great aplomb.
The Dodgers opened a four-game series against the Cincinnati Reds at home at Dodger Stadium on Thursday night. Manager Dave Roberts voiced his praise for Shohei Ohtani's consistent impact and dominating batting prowess in a pre-game conference:
"Obviosuly Shohei [Ohtani] certainly creates a stir and I can imagne what its like outside and its great for Shohei, its good for the Dodgers, its going to be a hot ticket item to be lucky enough to grab one of those.
"The more I see him everyday the more I realize how special of a person and ballplayer he is," Roberts said about Ohtani's bobblehead night.
Roberts said he relies on Shohei Ohtani to carry the momentum forward with his hitting this season, which will get a boost next season when he starts pitching, as he said:
"When he pitches next year he can mirror somewhat of what he is doing offensively but I think there is just something to kind of the focus on one aspect of the game."
Next, he talked about Ohtani's bat speeds and exit velocity so far this season:
"I don't think its more of one isolated swing, I think with Shohei its the collective amount of balls that he hits at a certain velocity. And so I think that's a seperator.
"It would be hard to find a guy that does it more consistently and I don't know the numbers but also his ability to hit to all fields, he gets on base a ton, he values the walks, so all that stuff I think makes him extremely dangerous."
Here's the video of Dave Roberts praising Shohei Ohtani ahead of the opening game against the Cincinnati Reds:
Elly De La Cruz and Reds spoil Shohei Ohtani's bobblehead night at Dodger Stadium
Elly De La Cruz was a man on a mission as he went 4-for4 with a career-high four stolen bases, scoring three runs and driving in one to become the chief orchestrator to spoil Shohei Ohtani's bobblehead night at Dodger Stadium on Thursday night.
The Cincinnati Reds took the opening game of the four-game series against the Dodgers 7-2. Ohtani went hitless throughout the game as LA's pitcher Tyler Glasnow gave up four runs on six hits and struck eight in five innings as Cincinnati attacked his pitches from the onset of the game.
The LA Dodgers will take on the Reds again on Friday night at Dodger Stadium at 7:10 p.m. PT.