There figured to be at least one benefit to Shohei Ohtani being reduced to a one-way star while he recovers from Tommy John surgery this season, one that Dodgers manager Dave Roberts hinted at in spring training.
With Ohtani, who spent four of his six seasons in Anaheim as a starting pitcher and designated hitter, focused almost exclusively on offense, could he be an even more lethal slugger than he was in 2021 and 2023, when he won American League most valuable player awards with the Angels?
The numbers say yes.
Ohtani led off Tuesday night’s game against the Chicago White Sox with a home run, he walked and scored on Freddie Freeman’s third-inning homer, and he drove in the eventual winning run with a two-out single in the fourth to help push the Dodgers to a 4-3 victory at Guaranteed Rate Field.
Bobby Miller was roughed up for three runs and four hits in two innings, but six relievers — Michael Petersen, Yohan Ramirez, Anthony Banda, Blake Treinen, Daniel Hudson and Evan Phillips — combined for seven scoreless innings, as the Dodgers reached the halfway point of the season with a 50-31 record.
Ohtani, who signed a 10-year, $700-million deal in December, has been the clear pacesetter in a star-studded lineup, leading the major leagues in batting average (.320) and the National League in slugging percentage (.634), on-base-plus-slugging percentage (1.032) and home runs (24).
He also has 21 doubles, 60 RBIs, 63 runs and 99 hits and is on pace to surpass his 46-homer, 100-RBI season in 2021 and his 44-homer, 95-RBI season in 2023.
“I think it’s unquestionable that I’m able to recover properly because there’s less of a workload,” Ohtani said in Japanese. “Plus, as I pile up experience year after year, I’m growing as a hitter. I think that’s leading to good results.”
Roberts sees that growth not only in the power Ohtani has produced but also in the plate discipline he has shown.
“I think Shohei understands that when you show you can control the strike zone, take balls, even in hitters’ counts, that a lot of special things happen,” Roberts said. “In years past, he had a big tendency to chase because he likes to swing. But when you [lay off bad pitches], you earn pitches in the strike zone.”
Ohtani gave the Dodgers a 1-0 lead in the first inning when he drove a 2-and-2 curve on the outer half of the plate from Chris Flexen for a leadoff homer that right fielder Tommy Pham got a glove on but was not able to secure above the…