The Los Angeles Dodgers' star continues to struggle, and manager Dave Roberts may need to make a difficult decision.
After falling to the San Francisco Giants on Monday, 9-3, the Los Angeles Dodgers are now losers of three-straight games, and their offensive struggles have been largely to blame for it.
The Dodgers were better on Monday than they were over the weekend as they went 10-for-36 at the plate, but one key player who has not been able to break out of his slump has been Shohei Ohtani.
Ohtani went 0-for-5 at the plate in the loss to the Giants and struck out twice. In his last three games, he is just 1-for-13 at the plate and has racked up five strikeouts.
Because of Ohtani’s struggles, manager Dave Roberts is considering giving his two-way star a brief reprieve from the batter’s box.
"Yes, yeah. You know, he's pitching on a Wednesday and I haven't decided if he's going to, you know, one of those days he's not going to hit," Roberts said. "So, I haven't decided that. But, yeah, as far as on top of that, it's certainly, you know, given what we're asking of him on the pitching side, it's a fair question. I haven't decided on that, but it certainly should be on the table."
In the month of May, Ohtani is hitting just .111 with a .220 on-base percentage, a .139 slugging percentage and a .358 OPS. He has also struck out 10 times, and has only four hits in 36 at-bats through nine games in the first half of the month.
According to Roberts, this is the most out of character he has seen Ohtani from an offensive standpoint.
"Yes, it is, it is. It is," Roberts repeated. "I think even early on when he wasn't, you know, right, he was still taking walks and getting on base. I think right now, and tonight was a classic example, I think he's just trying to swing out of it.
"And so, that's just apparent," Roberts added.. "You know, a lot of hitters, when they are scuffling, they want to kind of swing out of it. And so, tonight was one of those nights."
The challenge now for Ohtani is to avoid forcing the issue.
"I think the thought is understandable," Roberts said. "But, you know, when you're a really dangerous hitter, pitchers are not going to give that to you, then it's really not a good mindset. Because you've sort of got to give, take what they give you. And so, tonight, they clearly weren't going to give in to him, and he took the bait tonight."
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