by Lorenzo Roman // Staff Writer
The 2018 MLB season is underway and many new faces have joined different teams, like Giancarlo Stanton joining the New York Yankees, Evan Longoria and Andrew McCutchen joining the San Francisco Giants, but the main hype has been with the Los Angeles Angels, who acquired Shohei Ohtani this past offseason. Ohtani was a Japanese professional baseball player who played with the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters and was drafted by them in 2012. Ohtani was with the Fighters from 2012-2017 but didn’t make his debut with them until 2013 at the age of 18. Once Ohtani came onto the scene, he became a Japanese superstar. His offense totaled in 166 RBI’s, 48 HR’s (Home Runs), 296 Hits with a batting average of .286 in 5 seasons with the fighters. But he is a superstar on both ends of the field who pitches as well. Ohtani averaged a 2.52 ERA (Earned Run Average) and had 624 strike outs with the fighters. Ohtani signed with the Los Angeles Angels this past offseason and Angel fans are hyped. Ohtani has pitched twice these season and has brought in 2 wins with his pitching. He has an ERA of 2.08 with 18 strikeouts so far but remember the Japanese superstar can hit as well. Ohtani has a batting average of .346 and has 9 hits, 3 HR’s and 11 total RBI’s so far in his 26 at bats this season. The Angels are currently 11-3 and Ohtani has certainly been a big help. Many Angels fans are really happy that Ohtani is producing and isn’t a bust.
CHS senior Edward Valdez said, “Ohtani is doing good right now and he’s going to need to adjust later in the season with the workload he’s going to have, but I feel like he’s going to do good.”
AEE senior Erik Herrera said, “He’s a good baseball player even though he came in with a lot of hype, he still managed to live up to it even though people were bashing his name trying to send him down to the minors, he still overcame the obstacles and now got his first 2 wins as a pitcher and has 3 home runs under his belt.”
CHS senior Jacinda Flores said “I feel like he’s going to take us far & this is our year. Dodgers who?”
Although it’s still early in the season with only about 15 games in, Ohtani is producing. It’s still a long season and Angel fans hope to keep seeing their rookie shine!