Dave Roberts Has No Plans to Move Shohei Ohtani Out of Dodgers’ Leadoff Spot
The parallels between youth baseball and the big leagues might be more similar than you’d think.
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Growing up, the best player would often bat leadoff in order to maximize the amount of trips to the plate he/she would have. There’s always that one player who’d stand out above the rest — and as such you’d want to get them up to bat as much as possible.
Well, even on the largest scale, Dave Roberts operates similarly with Shohei Ohtani.
The Japanese slugger could very easily bat second, third, or in the cleanup spot for all teams across the league. Ohtani doesn’t “fit” the typical mold of a leadoff hitter — though there’s certainly nothing typical about the best player in baseball.
In the wake of the Dodgers’ struggles to scoring runs (prior to the series with the Rockies), Roberts was asked whether he’d move Ohtani from the leadoff spot and potentially in-between Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman. He said the following:
“I think we’d be back in that same position of having the lefties back-to-back. Also, I just feel that there are guys who are gonna perform better than they have, and Shohei will ultimately get those [RBI] opportunities.”
Staggering hitters based on being left-handed or right-handed does make sense from a strategy standpoint. If a lineup features a group of lefties or righties consecutively in the batting order, it makes it easier on the opposing team to stack their bullpen accordingly.
In this case, Ohtani’s ability to get on base is usually cashed in considering how prolific both Betts and Freeman are as hitters.
Look for Ohtani to continue to operate from the top spot in the order. It only makes sense to get him up to the plate as much as possible.
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Photo Credit: Jonathan Hui-Imagn Images
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