Most MLB pitchers have one good pitch and two or three passable offerings.
Some top relievers have two dominant pitches, and good starters have one or two excellent offerings and then the rest of the stuff lacks quality in comparison.
Only the truly dominant elite can brag about having three elite bat-missing pitches that they can command effectively.
Los Angeles Angels star Shohei Ohtani is definitely part of that group.
Not only is he capable of touching 101 or 102 mph with relative ease using his fastball, but he has one of the nastiest splitters you will see in the game: a true out-pitch that goes away from lefties and gets inside and down to righties .
On top of that, he has developed an incredible “sweeper”, the pitch taking over MLB.
You can call it a slider if you want, but this one is different: this one sweeps the entire strike zone, looking like a pitch inside to right-handed hitters, only to end up on the outside corner.
“Shohei Ohtani gets over 20% more sweep than other MLB sweepers that are similar in velocity,” Codify Baseball tweeted.
Shohei Ohtani gets over 20% more sweep than other MLB sweepers that are similar in velocity. 😮 https://t.co/EF8lJjT9Ya
— Codify (@CodifyBaseball) April 17, 2023
As you can see in the video, it gets sharp break, 20 percent more than similar sweepers in the league.
It’s good for called strikes and swinging strikes, and it has developed into quite a weapon.
In part thanks to the sweeper, Ohtani has been better than ever on the mound, with a video-game-like 0.86 ERA in 21 innings.
He has 27 strikeouts, too, including his tally on Monday when he took the mound against the Boston Red Sox but saw his start cut short by a rain delay.
He is the real deal.
NEXT:
Video Shows The Continued Star Power Of Shohei Ohtani
