Angels two-way player Shohei Ohtani, starting on Sunday against the Astros, was unable to finish the second inning as his struggles continued. Manager Joe Maddon removed Ohtani from the game with two outs in the second inning after he allowed two runs on five walks. He did strike out three without allowing a hit. José Rodríguez entered to get the final out of the second.
Last Sunday, against the Athletics, Ohtani failed to record an out. He needed to be taken out of the game after yielding five runs on three hits and three walks with no strikeouts. Ohtani’s ERA on the season is now 37.80, seven runs in 1 2/3 innings.
Ohtani, 26, missed most of the second half of the 2018 season and underwent Tommy John surgery that September. He did not pitch at all last season.
Ohtani is also struggling at the plate to begin the 2020 campaign. He has a .148/.179/.407 slash line with a pair of home runs and seven RBI over 28 plate appearances.
The 2020 season is much shorter, so teams don’t have as much time to afford their struggling players to figure things out. One wonders how many more starts Maddon will give Ohtani to turn things around.
