Shohei Ohtani has the opportunity to make franchise history for the Los Angeles Angels this season. Ohtani just came off of a decent performance by his standards against the Seattle Mariners. He pitched six innings and allowed two runs on seven hits including a solo home run. The Angels weren’t able to come away with the win, losing 6-2, but Ohtani did his best to try and keep them around. He struck out eight batters in the process.
Ohtani Is Catching Up To Nolan Ryan
His total number of strikeouts this season is now up to 165. That is the fifth highest total in the league right now. He’s also got the 11th best ERA in the league at 2.69 due to his high strikeout mark. Those 165 strikeouts have Ohtani positioned in third place in Angels history behind just one player, the Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan. Ryan picked up 211 strikeouts in 1977 and then got the second highest total at 182 a few years prior to that in 1973.
Ohtani has a legitimate chance of catching up to at least one of Ryan’s totals by the time this season comes to a close. After all, he’s currently striking out roughly 35 percent of the batters that he’s gone up against in 2022. By far, he’s got the best mark in that category compared to other pitchers.
However, it just goes to show how much trouble the Angels are currently in right now. Los Angeles wants to do everything in their power to retain Ohtani for many years to come. Unfortunately, they really aren’t doing much to convince him to stay. He just had another good performance and the team still lost by four runs. He also ended his run on the mound against Seattle by retiring seven out of the final eight batters he went up against. Three of those happened to count as strikeouts.
Angels Struggled Defensively
The problem just happened to lie upon the defensive end. Interim manager Phil Nevin wasn’t pleased at all by his team’s performance, outside of Ohtani that is. When speaking of Ohtani, he said, “I thought he pitched great. He threw a lot of fastballs, including his two-seamer, which he’s been working on. He made a lot of really good pitches.” Right after that, he was asked about the miscues on defense. To that he responded with, “It was awful. We just made some bad decisions, some bad throws. We didn’t execute a rundown. Yeah, it wasn’t good.”
To put this into perspective, the Angels allowed four runs in the ninth inning to seal their fate. It all started when a ball was thrown into center field from their catcher Max Stassi. It kept on going when Carlos Santana reached on a walk during a 2-2 count after a ball was thrown. Then there was a failed rundown between third and home plate which resulted in a run. And lastly, there was another throw to home plate that resulted in a drop from Stassi at home which turned in one more run.
Ohtani has been great and is close to making franchise history. However, he might not be sticking around if the Angels can’t get it together.