Oakland A’s face tough task in shutting down Shohei Ohtani
Oakland A’s face tough task in shutting down Shohei Ohtani in their series with the Los Angeles Angels
The Oakland A’s were able to avoid getting swept by the Seattle Mariners on Wednesday, but it’s hard not to feel a bit of disappointment that the A’s didn’t take a series win against their division rivals from the north. With a neck-in-neck division race against the Houston Astros, the A’s look to see if they can win another series against the banged-up Los Angeles Angels.
The Angels Pitching
Ohtani, Cobb, Quintana, Bundy
There is some flexibility with the Angles 6 Man rotation due to the off-day they had on Monday. One thing that is guaranteed is a date with one of MLB’s brightest stars, Shohei Ohtani. I’m far from the first to acknowledge the greatness that the phenom brings to the diamond each night. He’s struck out 45 batters in a little over 30 innings, has allowed no more than five hits in all of his starts last year, and I hear he isn’t too bad at the plate either.
Even considering Ohtani’s massive talent, this isn’t an automatic loss for the A’s. The two-way star has only pitched deeper than five innings once this year, leaving the Angels bullpen responsible for four innings of work. This strategy has paid off for teams like the A’s and the Rays, but the Halo’s bullpen doesn’t have the back-end talent or depth to make this a winning strategy. Despite three quality outings from Ohtani, the Angles have lost the last three games he started. Ohtani also displayed some worrying signs in his previous start. His fastball velocity was way down, and he only struck out five hitters, a relatively low mark compared to the high standards he sets. It seems that this issue isn’t too concerning to the Angels’ staff, but it is something to keep an eye on.
While his ERA isn’t as stellar, and he won’t grab as many headlines as a two-way superstar, Alex Cobb is an arm that could cause some problems for the Oakland A’s. After a few rough starts in April, Cobb has found his stride, and he hasn’t allowed a run yet in May. While his K/9 of 12 is likely to go down to something closer to his career norm, perhaps Cobb could ride his hot streak into another start.
A’s Pitching
Bassitt, Manaea, Montas, Irvin
Exciting rookie James Kaprielian continues to prove that he deserves a spot in this Oakland A’s rotation. This series, however, will feature the four starters that have been consistently making starts all year long. Chris Bassitt has been the most reliable arm of the four, and he is coming off his best start of the year against the Troutless Angels.
The improbable rise of Cole Irvin has slowed down a bit in his past few starts, but he is still sticking to the core tenets of his game: Don’t walk anybody, Don’t give up the long ball, Let the defense do its thing. Ideally, you’d like to see him miss more bats, but I’m still optimistic about his next start.
With Montas and Manaea, it has been feast or famine. In many ways, Manea is pitching some of the best games in his career. He is striking out batters at the highest rate of his career, and he frequently sees the 6th and 7th inning. Even with all of his success this year, Manaea hasn’t been able to avoid the occasional ugly game, the ugliest being his two-inning, ten-run outing in Boston. One thing that I’ve liked seeing from Manaea’s past few outings is his ability to prevent runs without having his sharpest stuff. If Manea can avoid lopsided innings, particularly early in the game, good things should happen.
Montas is one of the most confusing pitchers I’ve seen pitch for the Oakland A’s. He throws an easy 97 MPH fastball, a lethal slider, and yet he hasn’t been able to recapture the magic he had in the 2019 season. Sometimes Montas looks like he could be the best pitcher in the A’s rotation. Sometimes it feels like he should move to the bullpen where his high octane pitching style might play a bit better. Sometimes he looks like a pitcher who can’t find the zone and maybe shouldn’t be pitching for a competitive team.
Even though it’s easy to conjure up memories of the hard-throwing right-hander’s high pitch counts and wild pitches, Montas has been showing a lot of promise this season. He’s kept his walks somewhat in check and notched a career-high 11 strikeouts against the Mariners. Montas took the loss in that Mariners game, but there were exciting things to build off of in future starts.
Angels Hitters
The Angles lineup starts to look very thin without generational talent Mike Trout. That said, the Angels lineup has been picking up some steam, slugging 13 runs in two games against the Texas Rangers, and they have hitters that can do damage. I’ve used up my word count on Shohei Ohtani for this article, but he is currently the home run leader, and every ball seems to leave his bat at 115 MPH. Jared Walsh has also been a revelation for the Angels, who might be hitting better than Ohtani.
The two big hot hitters that have stepped up for the Orange County squad are Juan Lagares and Jose Iglesias. A recent hamstring injury might slow down Iglesias, but it sounds like he won’t have any IL time. While Lagares might not be Mike Trout, he has been slashing .350/.381/.550 over the last seven games and brings a very reliable glove in center.
Oakland A’s Hitters
The Oakland A’s top of the order has continued to have success. Matt Olson hit his 13th longball on Wednesday. Mark Canha is seeing the ball great and is picking up extra-base hits left and right. Young, clutch-hitting outfielder Seth Brown continues to be a surprising source of power in this A’s lineup from the left side.
After Matt Chapman seemed to find his way out of his sluggish start, it seems that things have stalled at the plate again for the A’s third baseman. Chapman has had trouble making contact before, but one extra concerning layer is the lack of pop. The Gold Glover hasn’t had an extra-base hit since May 18th, and Chapman’s bat is going to be crucial for the A’s to win their second straight division title.
Next. The sky is not falling with Sergio Romo. dark
On a positive note, I’d like to talk about one of my favorite Athletics, Tony Kemp, who is currently flirting with a .400 On-Base Percentage. The second-baseman always brings a hard-nosed plate approach to every at-bat, earning him his fair share of walks despite his severe lack of power. In the past few weeks, Kemp has been riding a hot streak featuring a handful of multiple-hit games, plenty of walks, and even a home run. Kemp will lose some at-bats to the now healthy Chad Pinder, but hopefully, Kemp will get the time to let his hot streak ride out.