MESA, Ariz. (AP) — Shohei Ohtani had no points together with his pitches or the brand new clock in his first spring coaching outing this yr, his just one for the Los Angeles Angels earlier than he joins Japan for the World Baseball Traditional.
Ohtani pitched 2 1/3 hitless innings towards Oakland on Tuesday, placing out two and strolling two. The 2-way star, starting his final season earlier than he can develop into a free agent, didn’t bat.
“It’s all the time good to get the primary sport beneath my belt,” Ohtani mentioned by translator Ippei Mizuhara. “The primary objective as we speak was to really feel out all my pitches. I felt fairly good with all of them.”
“I needed to ease in. I’m glad,” he added.
Ohtani, 15-9 with a 2.33 ERA and 219 strikeouts final season, is slated to begin the March 30 opener at Oakland.
He reached 98 mph towards the Athletics. He walked Jesús Aguilar within the second and obtained out of the inning when Liván Soto grounded right into a double play. Ohtani walked his final batter, Ryan Noda, and Luke Murphy relieved.
Ohtani used PitchCom to assist his tempo.
“I used to be calling my very own pitches,” Ohtani mentioned. “That was simply as we speak, I don’t know what’s going to occur.”
Ohtani will head again to Japan to organize for his nation’s WBC opener towards China on March 9.
His mound opponent on Tuesday was Shintaro Fujinami, a 28-year-old right-hander who signed a $3.25 million, one-year contract after 10 seasons with the Central League’s Hanshin Tigers.
The duo hadn’t confronted one another since Ohtani performed for the Pacific League’s Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters. Ohtani, as a result of he wasn’t batting within the sport, mentioned he didn’t see a lot of Fujinami on the mound.
Fujinami, who went two innings, was being attentive to his mound opponent, he mentioned.
“I do know Japanese followers had been wanting ahead to us pitching towards one another,” Fujinami mentioned by a translator. “I believed it was good leisure (for them).”
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