{"id":228010,"date":"2026-03-20T04:41:33","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T04:41:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/228010\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T04:41:33","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T04:41:33","slug":"shohei-ohtani-turns-heads-during-spring-training-pitching-debut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/228010\/","title":{"rendered":"Shohei Ohtani Turns Heads During Spring Training Pitching Debut"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img alt=\"Feb 21, 2026; Tempe, Arizona, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani against the Los Angeles Angels during a spring training game at Tempe Diablo Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"standard-img\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/bc42a09da87af55a66fe6ebbfedea468.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Feb 21, 2026; Tempe, Arizona, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani against the Los Angeles Angels during a spring training game at Tempe Diablo Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p>Los Angeles Dodgers two-way star Shohei Ohtani was impressive in his first Spring Training pitching start as a member of the team.<\/p>\n<p>Ohtani last pitched in the Spring back in 2023, when he was on the Angels.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>He tore his UCL, requiring Tommy John surgery later in the regular season, and he spent two years recovering from the procedure before taking the mound again at the midway point of the 2025 season.<\/p>\n<p>This spring, however, he is fully healthy and took the mound against the San Francisco Giants on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Feb 21, 2026; Tempe, Arizona, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani against the Los Angeles Angels during a spring training game at Tempe Diablo Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"373\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"standard-img\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/de264b2c30c5878765dfdf4b9a81b90e.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Feb 21, 2026; Tempe, Arizona, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani against the Los Angeles Angels during a spring training game at Tempe Diablo Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p>Ohtani totaled 4.1 innings, throwing four strikeouts in 61 pitches and allowing just a single hit. He walked two batters and failed to capitalize on some strikeout chances, but it was an overall majestic performance from him.<\/p>\n<p>His fastball topped out at 99 mph, though it averaged just 97.6 mph. He was pitching much harder in 2025, and with Cy Young pressure on his shoulders, Ohtani will likely be pumping pure 100+ mph gas at opposing hitters.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>Manager Dave Roberts \u2014 understandably \u2014 was left more than happy with Ohtani\u2019s outing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s one of our best pitchers,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cAnd for him to have a foundation, being past the surgery, with what he did last year, knowing that he can take down starts in the mid-20s, it just makes us better. And I know that\u2019s what he\u2019s expecting from himself.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Feb 21, 2026; Tempe, Arizona, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani against the Los Angeles Angels&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":228011,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164,4396,2866,53,4820,422,38760],"class_list":["post-228010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news","tag-dave-roberts","tag-los-angeles-angels","tag-los-angeles-dodgers","tag-san-francisco-giants","tag-shohei-ohtani","tag-tommy-john-surgery"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228010","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=228010"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228010\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/228011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=228010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=228010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=228010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}