Shohei Ohtani: His batting average will explode in June! Escape from Slump by “Slightly Correcting Center of Gravity” to Hit More Home Runs!
No need to worry about sluggish batting, the cause was in his lower body!
The slightest of changes…
After 48 games of the season, he has an OPS of .850 and seven home runs, an MLB All-Star caliber performance, but still, it must be a problem only for the greatest player of all time to be described as “sluggish” (figures as of May 19, Japan time). Shohei Ohtani, 31, of the Dodgers, who is trying to complete the season as a two-tool pitcher, has been pitching at a Cy Young Award level since the start of the season, but he has not shown his true form as a hitter.
He has hit only about half as many home runs as he did during the same period a year ago. However, his on-base percentage is .392, one of the highest in the league. His WAR, which indicates how much he has added to the team’s wins as an individual, is 2.80, which is the highest in the majors, so according to the data, he has already shown MVP-level performance.
Why in the world has Ohtani not yet been able to hit a large number of home runs? Otani himself has stated that he is simply not good enough, but the American baseball world has a different view.
Dodgers hitting coach Robert Banskojok, 39, said that the strain of pitching may be causing a subtle shift in his hitting form. Fatigue in the lower body after pitching has caused a time lag of a few tenths of a second in the swing of the bat, and it seems that Ohtani was unable to pull the ball back until the very last moment because he started earlier to compensate.”
Baseball critic Takahiro Toketsu said that the slight change in form made to reduce the burden on the lower body had backfired.
He seemed to be conscious of sinking his lower body deeper than usual and trying to make the ball fly by shifting his body weight. At first glance, this form may seem to put additional strain on the lower body, but because it uses the large muscles of the thighs and buttocks, there is less stress on the knee and ankle joints that have been damaged by climbing the plate.
However, as Banskoyoc pointed out, that form causes timing discrepancies. Therefore, Ohtani has made readjustments to raise his center of gravity since mid-May.
He said, “I regained a swing in which I use my body’s sharpness to rotate my hips in an instant at the very last moment. When he was not hitting well, I think there were many cases where he hit over the top of the ball and resulted in mediocre hits, but with this slight modification, he will have more time to angle his pitches.
Manager Dave Roberts (53) is also looking for ways to mitigate the damage other than changing Ohtani’s form, such as not allowing him to bat when he pitches and setting aside rest days.
It will be the first time in three years that Otani will play a full season as a two-sport athlete from the start of the season. If he has a game or two that will be a kick-start, it will signal the start of his mass production.
The period between the season opener and May may have been nothing more than a period of adjustment for Ohtani.
From “FRIDAY” June 5 and 12, 2026
PHOTO： AFLO