The Los Angeles Dodgers need to come with all of their firepower in Game 5 of the World Series in order to close out the New York Yankees on the road. They’ve been powered by their superstar designated hitter Shohei Ohtani all year long, but the way he’s been executing at the plate of late has not been received well by his manager Dave Roberts.
Dodgers: Shohei Ohtani’s World Series slump may be due to discipline issues
Ohtani is battling through a left shoulder subluxation injury that he sustained in Game 2 of the Fall Classic. He’s hitting .133/.278/.200 through the Dodgers’ first four games and looks like a shell of a shell of himself. You read that right.
Since sustaining the infirmity, the 30-year-old talent has one hit and one walk to two strikeouts and a run scored to his name. Shockingly, the 50-50 club member has not stolen a base not only in the World Series, but in the entire postseason, and was seen laboring through discomfort by holding his shoulder when in between the bags in Game 4.
His work at the plate is suffering. Roberts believes he knows why, and his reason does not have to do with his injury altogether, as he outlined per Matt Borelli of Dodgerblue.com:
“I just think it’s the chase. You see it. There’s some big at-bats that could result in a walk, and not taking the base and chasing, hasn’t been good.”
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Ohtani can help the Dodgers close out the World Series by harkening to manager
Ohtani posted a stout 26.6 percent chase percentage in the regular season which placed him in the 61st percentile in the MLB, but Roberts feels as though his plate discipline is not where it needs to be. The Dodgers’ lead playcaller wants his NL MVP favorite to generate more walks and let the game come to him.
Los Angeles has thrived behind Freddie Freeman’s electric bat thus far, but if the four-time All-Star cleans up his repertoire in Game 5, he could give Freeman and the rest of L.A.’s star-studded batting order the boost they could use to silence the Yankees once and for all, even while banged up.
