Ohtani has the lowest major league ERA (1.59) and highest pitching fWAR (4.9) in his last 20 appearances.
Shohei Ohtani is baseball's greatest pitcher. Certainly, the data from his last 20 appearances paint that picture. Since the Heavenly messengers began utilizing PitchCom to convey pitch determination to Ohtani on June 9 of last season, Ohtani has driven the majors in Time (1.59) and pitching WAR (4.9) over his last 20 beginnings.
He set a new standard last night by starting the season with six scoreless innings, zero runs allowed, and 10 strikeouts against the Athletics in a 2-1 loss. The most impressive aspect is by far the fact that he called his own pitches on PitchCom rather than relying on the catcher. In addition, in contrast to other pitchers, he learned to use a keypad rather than a wrist or forearm to enter the numbers.
It is the first time pitchers have been given authority over PitchCom due to the pitch clock and Ohtani's extensive pitch repertoire. He no longer has to go through the complicated process of ignoring the catcher's call. By taking full control of the situation, Ohtani can now build on the spotless statistics he has produced since the Angels began using PitchCom with him in June.
He leads the majors in ERA (1.59), pitching fWAR (4.9), strikeouts (164), and opponent batting average (.184) in his last 20 appearances.
He has not only probably been the best pitcher in baseball. This pitching stretch positions among the best in ongoing American Association memory. A 20-start range with a Time that low (1.59) and that numerous strikeouts (164) was just accomplished by five AL relievers in the past 50 seasons. Johan Santana from 2004 to 2005, Pedro Martnez from 1999 to 2000, Justin Verlander from 2017 to 2018, Corey Kluber from 2017, and Roger Clemens from 1997 Every pitcher during those runs won the Cy Young Award, with the exception of Justin Verlander, who won a World Series during that time. I have no doubt that Ohtani would also not object.
Since switching to PitchCom, Ohtani has relied more and more on his sweeping slider. In his last 20 appearances, he has tossed it 41% of the time, contrasted with 23% in his past 44 beginnings. Statcast places it behind Dylan Cease's slider as the MLB's second-most valuable pitch, with -22.2 run value over his last 20 starts. With the same fastball, he ended the World Baseball Classic by striking out Mike Trout. Naturally, it was set up by a triple-digit fastball and a vicious splitter that hitters had to keep in mind.
