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The story
Shohei Ohtani’s batting has cratered in September, falling from an August line of .248, 7 home runs, 15 RBIs, and an .830 OPS down to .182, 0 home runs, 1 RBI, and a .584 OPS. On 5ch’s live-game threads, users have been debating the causes of the slump — the state of his right elbow after two Tommy John surgeries, the swing mechanics thrown off as a result, and his refusal to take the rest he’s been urged to take while continuing to both pitch and hit. Opinions are split over whether he still needs to keep up the two-way act, how his numbers stack up against teammates, and the fact that the Dodgers are holding first place even without him carrying the offense.
What people said
September: .182, 0 HR, 1 RBI, OPS .584
His average with runners in scoring position this month is .200, so relatively speaking he's actually clutch this month
In absolute terms he's just weak, though
lol
This doesn't even make sense anymore
Injuries.
Also, when he plays through an injury while favoring it, he ends up hurting something else too — a vicious cycle.
Apparently the elbow that's had two Tommy John surgeries just isn't holding up. Everyone kept telling him to rest, but he completely ignored it and kept pushing, so it got worse and worse. That's bled into his hitting too — he started using a compromised swing to protect the elbow, so the ball stopped carrying, and when he tried to muscle up to compensate, his knee started acting up as well. Now apparently both the elbow and the knee are shot.
The reason he keeps getting hurt over and over is a flaw in his own personality, so that's not an excuse. How many times does he have to repeat the same mistake by not listening to anyone?
Can you even call a guy who's pitched for only 3 months out of 3 years with the Dodgers a "pitcher"? He's basically Kiké Hernández at this point (a position player who occasionally pitches mop-up innings).
He's pitching too, so why is his WAR so weak?
Is it really that baffling? He doesn't want to lose the home run race to guys like Murakami, Okamoto, or Suzuki (NPB sluggers).
So basically it's his own fault for not resting.
Yeah, everyone keeps telling him to rest and he goes and takes practice swings anyway, almost like he's doing it out of spite.
Exactly right, but apparently for Ohtani himself, the desire to succeed as a pitcher outweighs everything else. Word is he's always focused mainly on pitching practice and hasn't done much hitting practice. Though this is just something someone heard in a Dodgers game-thread, so who knows if it's true.
*Note: those guys are position players who also play defense.
More than that, it's precisely because he's a "two-way player" that hogging the DH spot has been tolerated. Realistically, not being able to use the DH slot to rest teammates is brutal for the team.
Yeah, this is really what it comes down to. It only worked because the team ran things in a special way just for Ohtani's sake. And that kind of treatment only flies on a weak team — the moment he moved to the Dodgers, nobody was willing to give him that special treatment anymore, and everything fell apart.
Even with all that babying, you can't fake your way to a 50-50 season — the talent is real. But once they brought him back to pitch, his elbow finally gave out for good and now everything's a mess. Guess the theory that ligaments have a fixed lifespan was right after all. He should've listened when Darvish told him he could succeed as a hitter and should focus on hitting.
Roster spots for pitchers in MLB are really tight, so being registered as a position player who can also pitch is a lot more useful there than it would be in NPB.
Teams that are already locked out of the postseason are running out rookies and fringe players to audition them, so it's less that the Dodgers are playing well and more that their opponents are just in "meaningless game" mode now.
Of course they are — they're a stacked enough team that they'd be fine even without Ohtani to begin with.
But didn't they only start winning 100 games a season after Ohtani joined?
This team already hit 100+ wins in 2017, 2019, 2021, 2022, and 2023 — that has nothing to do with Ohtani, are you joking? If anything, they only won in the 90s his first two years there, and this is a team that's won 90+ games nearly every year for over a decade, aside from the shortened 2020 COVID season.
Stop pretending to defend him.
That's the thing though — the bar for Ohtani has gotten way too high.
What parallel universe are you talking about? lol
By WAR, Ichiro's actually higher, you know.
Has Ohtani ever actually done proper fielding practice?
With a body that breaks down that easily, outfield is out of the question, and even first base is questionable.
Background and Key Points of the Debate
Ohtani has undergone Tommy John surgery on his right elbow twice, in 2018 and 2023, and the current slump is believed to be linked to the strain that returning to pitching has placed on his elbow and knee. In the thread, users pointed out that the Dodgers have been a powerhouse lineup winning 90+ games almost every year since 2017, even before Ohtani joined, pushing back against the view that the team wins because of him. Opinions are split on whether he should continue as a two-way player — some argue he should prioritize rest, while Ohtani himself appears more focused on his track record as a pitcher — suggesting that batting statistics alone can’t easily settle whether rest is needed or whether continuing the two-way role still makes sense.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Nandemo Jikkyou G) thread “[Sad News] Shohei Ohtani’s September monthly stats are seriously no joke lololololololololol.”
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