National League Championship Series" Shohei Ohtani's bat is out! Yesterday, the Dodgers coach held a rare special training and had something to say

Shohei Ohtani. (File photo)

[Sports Center/Comprehensive Report] The defending Dodgers ushered in the National League Championship Game G1 today, and the recent situation of Japanese superstar Shohei Ohtani became the focus of attention. The Dodgers' starting lineup was announced before the game, and Ohtani will serve as the fourth designated hitter.

Shohei Ohtani had only 2 hits in 13 at-bats in 4 games in the Division Series, with no slugging or RBI, and 4 strikeouts, with a batting average of 0.154 and an offensive index of 0.421. In order to help Ohtani get out of his slump, head coach Dave Roberts also continuously adjusted his batting order back during the series, from the original first in the regular season to second, fifth, and fourth.

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Yesterday, Ohtani conducted batting practice outdoors. He swung the bat 71 times in total, and 6 balls flew over the home run wall, including one that flew 140 meters. The Dodgers will face the Brewers' fireball ace Jacob Misiorowski today. The Dodgers also performed a rare special training yesterday. Near the end of the practice, Ohtani deliberately moved his position forward to shorten the distance from the pitching machine.

During Ohtani's batting practice yesterday, many of the shots were hit to the middle and opposite directions of the pitch. Robles said: "His swing is very good, and he can make good use of the space of the entire pitch to hit the ball, which is very good. If you focus on hitting a home run and deliberately pull the ball, it will be more difficult to hit the ball. It can be seen that he has narrowed the range of his swing and tried to get the ball closer to him before releasing the ball."

Robles emphasized that it is not easy to knock out long hits from Mishorowski, and also expressed his expectations for Ohtani, "For Shohei, I think the most important thing is to return to basic skills. I have a good feeling about his current state. Of course, he has not recovered 100%, but I think he is in a state that is enough to cope with the game. Now he must go back to the simplest ideas, choose the ball well, and play high-quality games."