Two people on the pavement, never be the same again
Breaking down Vlad Jr's at bats against Shohei Ohtani
Because I am a very big nerd, Thursday night’s game between the Blue Jays and Angels was, personally, the most anticipated regular season Blue Jays game I can remember. Many fans don’t pay much attention to the players on the other team but the opportunity to watch Vladimir Guerrero Jr face Shohei Ohtani three of four times was irresistible to me.
They did face three times, as the two-way wunderkind went six innings, allowing two runs while striking out six. He allowed just three hits and walked three batters. He got hit relatively hard, with an average exit velocity of nearly 98 mph, 10 mph higher than his season average.
Did Vlad Jr do any of that damage? Find out how the shoo-in AL MVP runner up fared against the shoo-in for the American League’s most valuable player below!
Vlad Jr vs Ohtani - Round 1
After mowing down George Springer and then a hard-hit atomball from Marcus Semien, Vlad Jr stepped in to face Ohtani with two out in the first. As is his wont, Guerrero was aggressive and looking for a pitch to drive.
As luck would have it, he got one. A first pitch slider that wasn’t located particularly well. June Vlad probably bounces this one off the rocks in left-centre field. August Vlad1 hit it hard into the ground at 105 mph.
Some well-deserved run good comes Vlad Jr’s way as this one bounced between the shortstop and third baseman for a base hit. A team like the Rays, one of the few that still shift Vlad Jr aggressively, might turn this into an out. But the Angels are both dumb and bad, so it’s a single for Guerrero!
Vlad Jr vs Ohtani - Round 2
After the Angels’ pitcher slash leadoff hitter flew out to end the bottom of the third inning, Vlad Jr was the second batter to face him in the fourth. After Semien worked a great walk, making the Angels’ ace throw eight pitches, Guerrero stepped in with a chance to start a rally, his Blue Jays down 5-0.
Ohtani yanked a fastball into the other batter’s box (his second bad miss with that pitch in a row) before getting a called strike with a cutter up-and-in. The next pitch was a great idea and well executed by Ohtani, throwing another cutter but down and away at the bottom of the zone, a pitch that Guerrero can only foul off.
This pitch is a set up. While Ohtani added his cutter as a relatively new weapon, often throwing it for strikes as breaks less than his devastating slider, which he uses as a wipeout, swing-and-miss offering.
Throwing this pitch in this spot makes Vlad Jr vulnerable to any number of offerings with the count 1-2. Ohtani could throw his devastating splitter in the same spot, a pitch that looks like a strike until it dives below the zone. He could throw a slider, which moves similarly to the cutter but with more break and a few miles per hour slower. Or he could throw his fastball to the bottom corner of the strike zone, freezing the hitter who just hope it moves out of the zone.
Ohtani indeed opts for the splitter but it’s a ball, a wild miss above the zone and in rather than down and away where it belongs.
Now the count is 2-2 and the kitchen sink remains in play for the two-way freak. Vlad Jr has lots to think about but, even in a slump, knows he can cover just about every pitch Ohtani could throw, especially on a night when his fastball is “just” 95-96 rather than 97-99 as it was to this point of the game.
Ohtani and catcher Kurt Suzuki opt for a slider down-and-away. The swing-and-miss slider is what Ohtani threw and the swing-and-miss it what he got. Ohtani throws an all-but-perfect pitch that Vlad Jr can’t help but whiff on. Strikeout!
Vlad Jr vs Ohtani - Round 3
With one out in the sixth inning, Vlad Jr strode to the plate for what figured to be his last chance to face Ohtani on the night. He smartly watched a splitter(?) off the plate down and away for ball one before the Angels right hander came right back with a truly cruel cutter/splitter2 to even the count at 1.
After another slider missed badly, Guerrero took a terrible hack at another slider, this one well off the plate. Vlad fouled one off before Ohtani went for the kill, looking to dot his fastball at the bottom of the zone.3 He humped up, pumping 99 but it wasn’t close. Full count!
The payoff pitch was another fastball, this one at 98mph4, but it’s wide and Vlad Jr draws a walk. His second in two days! He swung at a terrible pitch but fought off a decent slider, giving Ohtani the chance to provide the free pass. Guerrero was then stranded at first as Lourdes Gurriel Jr vs Shohei Ohtani went exactly as one might predict.
Conclusions
Shohei Ohtani has improved in leaps and bounds as the 2021 season progressed. He’s not the strikeout monster he was at points in April and May but he just doesn’t walk people any more and is almost impossible to square up, allowing one of the lowest expected batting averages in baseball.
Guerrero didn’t “square him up” but he did hit a mistake very hard for a single. He had two tough at bats that both could’ve gone either way, scratching out a walk in one and a strikeout in the other.
While the current scouting report on Guerrero is pretty clear, Ohtani tried to stay away from Vlad Jr’s all night, only making a few mistakes inside, one of which was a called strike.
Did it live up to the hype? Probably not for a casual fan as it lacked fireworks or signature moments. But it sure was fun to watch for the determined dork like me. I look forward to seeing this matchup many more times as two of the game’s brightest stars lock horns for years to come.
Not just August 2021 Vlad but probably August 2020 and August 2019 Vlad probably do, too
Gameday registered this as a cutter but it looked a lot more like a splitter on TV.
This is my favourite thing that Ohtani does. His wide assortment of nasty junk makes that dotted fastball a paralyzing offering.
A reminder: the same guy has 38 home runs this year lol
Those of us alive to watch Mantle, Aaron, Morgan, Schmidt and others, can legitimately wonder whether Ohtani is the best player of our lifetimes.