Shohei Ohtani Is Pulling 53.7% of His Balls and Nobody in the League Is Ready For It

Alright, M's fans, let's talk about something wild happening in baseball right now. Everyone's buzzing about Shohei Ohtani's "slump" at the plate, right? You see that .797 OPS and maybe your eyes pop a bit, especially after what he pulled off in 2025. But get this: despite the chatter, Ohtani is still rocking a .370 on-base percentage and his wRC+ shows he's 22% more valuable than the average MLB hitter. Oh, and he's leading the entire Majors with a ridiculous 0.82 ERA on the mound! Still, for a guy with a career 155 wRC+ and a .950 career OPS, his current numbers do look "off." But don't you dare count him out, because Joey Votto, one of the game's best lefties ever, just broke down what's really going on, and it's not what you think.

Votto Points to a Subtle Shift in Ohtani's Plate Approach

Votto spilled the beans on MLB Network, and his take on Ohtani's slight underperformance is surprisingly simple: it's all about his approach at the plate. He's noticing Ohtani struggling more than usual with pitches high and outside, not letting the ball get deep enough, and not driving it to the opposite field. And the numbers? They back Votto up, big time. Ohtani's slugging this season has come heavily from pitches on the inside and lower parts of the plate. Remember how he absolutely *destroyed* all pitching in 2025? Well, Votto sees a clear difference now, especially in how Ohtani is handling that high strike. Votto said, "In past years, and certainly last September, he showed that that is a strength of his when he's at his very best. In 2026, maybe it's a slight adjustment. Maybe it's early. Maybe it's small sample size. Maybe it's the new responsibility of being the very best pitcher or the 1B best pitcher in all of Major League Baseball. But he just is ever so slightly off."

The Pull-Side Obsession and Why It Matters

Here's the real kicker: Ohtani has been pulling his batted balls 53.7% of the time this season. That's a HUGE jump from 43.2% just a year ago, and his career rate of 40%. What's the consequence? He's going back up the middle significantly less, with only 25.9% of his batted balls heading to center field, a stark decrease from his 35.5% career rate. Votto even saw Ohtani take batting practice this week, which is super rare for the four-time MVP, and observed that Ohtani looked like he was just trying to get that "right feeling" back. Votto stressed the importance of hitting "straight lines" and "flushing a ball through the center of the field," saying, "It makes you feel as if you're more balanced at contact. It makes you feel like more of the center of the bat is making contact with more of the center of the ball. We want that control." The Dodgers are even giving Ohtani more rest around his pitching starts, including sitting him out on back-to-back days this week, which is a first in his Dodgers career while active. He did homer on Tuesday, his seventh of the season, and while it was his first since April 26 and only his second in his last 113 plate appearances, that power is still lurking. Votto isn't worried at all, and his confidence is infectious. He's hugely encouraged by Ohtani's continued strong OBP, which is buoyed by a 15.1% walk rate that ranks in the 90th percentile. Votto declared, "He's one game away from, all of a sudden, passing the .500, .550 slug and entering into the .950, 1.000 OPS territory." He added, "If he wasn't walking, if he didn't have that plus on-base percentage above his batting average, then I would be more concerned." The guy who hit 50+ homers in the past two seasons is absolutely still in there. Votto is convinced we're about to witness something legendary, stating, "I think we're about to watch a guy who has - I mean, he has a three-win month, I think, in the last couple years. I think we might have a guy who puts together a couple of those in 2026 and puts together one of the all-time great seasons. It's going to be a blast to watch from May 15 till the end of the year." He believes it's "inevitable. It's not possible for him to fail." And speaking of things that hit different, our very own Mariners just couldn't get the bats going tonight, dropping a tough one to the Padres, 2-0. It stings, no doubt. But with the season still early, we gotta pick ourselves up, dust off, and look ahead to the next game. Cal Raleigh, Julio Rodriguez, the whole crew, they've got to find that spark and start putting some runs on the board. We know what they're capable of, and we're ready to see it.

This article was created with AI assistance and reviewed by Seattle On Tap editorial staff. Always verify information with official team sources.