Cody Snavely
The excitement for the 2024 season is there for several reasons; however, the biggest of them all is undoubtedly two-way super star Shohei Ohtani.
Ohtani, who signed the largest contract in North American sports history, a 10-year $700 million deal, will join the stacked Dodgers roster, which also includes Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, and longtime veteran Clayton Kershaw.
The goal, however, remained the same for the Boys in Blue: to win a championship, and to do that, they need Ohtani to play like his MVP self.
Shrouded in controversy
Perhaps the biggest story since the Houston Astros cheating scandal, the LA Times and ESPN shared a story that involved Shohei Ohtani’s name being involved with an illegal gambling ring.
Ohtani’s former translator and close friend, Ippei Mizuhara, allegedly stole millions of dollars out of Ohtani’s bank account to pay off his gambling debt, which was around $4.5 million.
The plot thickens as the original narrative, as told by Mizuhara himself, claims that Ohtani had willingly helped him pay off the debt as a friend, even wiring the money himself. However, Ohtani and his team have categorically denied these allegations, with Mizuhara himself admitting to lying in a subsequent interview with ESPN.
Regardless of how you feel about the story, it undoubtedly impacted Ohtani’s performance. While he is a talented two-way star, he is also human and has emotions.
Now that we are weeks removed from the story so far, it seems Ohtani has started to settle in at the plate, especially after blasting his first Dodgers home run in the final game of the San Francisco Giants series.
Hot road trip
While the Dodgers had a great homestand, going 6-1 and ending on a high note, sweeping the NL West division rivals, Ohtani had a suburban state line slashing .259/.333/.482 with nine strikeouts.
However, after hitting his first home run, the new season/new team jitters have come and gone, as in the short four games on the road, Ohtani is playing out of his mind.
After yesterday’s 3-for-4 performance, Ohtani is now hitting .352 with a 1.075 OPS on the season. He’s 11-for-his-last-22 and has blasted two more home runs in Wrigley and Target field.
Despite his slow start, Ohtani has been hammering the ball and is ranked in the 99th percentile in exit velocity on Baseball Savant, averaging 94.4 MPH.
While many threw around the term “struggling,” Ohtani is off to a better start than the 2023 season, posting better numbers in all categories.
In 2023 Ohtani had a .295 xBA, .638 xSLG, .427 xWOBA, and a 54.2 Hard Hit percentage. In 2024, he improved on all those numbers, posting a .375 xBA, .707 xSLG, .477 xWOBA, and 55.0 Hard Hit percentage.
What’s next?
For Ohtani, as he continues to get more comfortable at the plate, he will only get better. While the Ippei and gambling story will stick with Ohtani for the foreseeable future, he and the team seem to have put it to bed, focusing on one thing: winning ballgames.
The Dodgers have two more games on this cold road trip until they return home to host the San Diego Padres, where Ohtani hopes to give Dodgers fans a show with his hot bat.
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