New Los Angeles Angels manager Joe Maddon said Monday he wants to see more of Shohei Ohtani batting and pitching and is keen to see him both in the same game — regardless of whether that means discarding the DH rule for his team.
“Just because it doesn’t happen all the time doesn’t mean it can’t happen,” Maddon said.
During his time with the Nippon Ham Fighters, Ohtani batted in the lineup as the starting pitcher 12 times. Not surprisingly, he brought decent offense — he slashed .286/.395./.400 in his tiny sample (43 plate appearances). But the experiment was a success because of his pitching.
| Status | Innings | BB | SO | ERA |
| In batting order | 86 1/3 | 26 | 105 | 1.04 |
| not batting | 452 2/3 | 172 | 515 | 2.82 |
In addition to the small sample size, the 86 2/3 innings when in the batting order mostly took place in his 2016 MVP season, but the numbers are fun.
Asked if he’d ditch the DH when Ohtani pitches for the Angels, Maddon said, “Why wouldn’t you? That’s 50 extra at-bats.”
