Mike Trout on Shohei atlanta braves men's jerseys Ohtani's ever

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LOS ANGELES — Even by the lofty, unprecedented and, let’s be honest, downright insane standards Shohei Ohtani set during his breakthrough 2021 MVP season, his past month of baseball has been downright ridiculous. 

On June 21, Ohtani the designated hittMLB Toyser had eight RBIs. 

On June 22, Ohtani the starting pitcher Shohei Ohtani struck out 13 hitters. 

“Anything Shohei does doesn’t surprise me anymore,” Angels superstar Mike Trout told The Sporting News on Monday, during the All-Star media day. 

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On July 6, Ohtani the starting pitcher struck out 10 Marlins, and Ohtani the starting pitcher had two RBIs and a stolen base. He’s the first player in modern history to do that. 

“I don’t get surprised anymore,” Trout told TSN, probably annoyed to be repeating himself.

On July 13, Ohtani the starting pitcher struck out 12 Astros, and Ohtani the starting pitcher had a triple and two more RBI atlanta braves jersey res s. 

“It’s always something, every night,” Trout said, probably exasperated at this point, though he hid it well.

And Ohtani had something special in store for the All-Star Game, too. Interviewed on the house microphone moments before he led off the game for the AL against Clayton Kershaw, Fox’s Tom Verducci asked what he had planned to start the game. 

“First pitch, first swing,” he said, in EnglisBuster Posey h. “That’s it.”

Sure enough, Ohtani slapped Kershaw’s first pitch into the outfield, a line-drive single. Because of course he did.

“You can’t make the first pitch of an All-Star Game a breaking ball,” Kershaw told reporters after his inning. “He didn’t hit it out so that’s a win.”

What happened next was MLB Home and Office Decorsurprising, too, but not in a great way — he was picked off first by Kershaw, who exa atlanta braves store near me cted a bit of revenge for the single. 

Ohtani was more patient his next time up, drawing a six-pitch walk in the third inning off Joe Musgrove, and that was it for his All-Star time. Well, except for the mid-game press conference. 

Ohtani dMLB Pantsidn’t pitch in the game, a fact the NL hitters were probably thankful for. 

Because here’s the thing: If you’re looking to differentiate Ohtani’s 2021 campaign from his 2022 season so far, his improvement on the mound is the place to start. First, the basics.

In 2021, Ohtani posted a atlanta braves baseball jersey 3.18 ERA and 3.52 FIP, with 10.8 strikeouts and 3.0 walks per nine innings. In 2022 so far, he has a 2.38 ERA, 2.27 FIP, 12.7 strikeouts per nine and 2.3 walks per nine. Ac atlanta braves jersey mens xl ross the board, everything’s better. 

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And, folks, he just keeps getting better. 

“What he’s doing on the mound these last six starts, I’ve never seen anything like it,” Trout told TSN. “He’s starting to add pitches he hasn’t thrown before, mixing stuff up. And the speeds? I think he’s got a 67-mile-per-hour curveball and then he’s got 101? The speed difference is incredible. And he throws all his pitches for strikes.”

In his past six starts, Ohtani has a 0.45 ERA, with two earned runs in 39 2/3 innings. He has nearly three times as many strikeouts as hitMatt Olson Braves Jerseys s allowed — 58 to 20. In his four most recent starts, he’s struck out 13, then 11, then 10 and then 12 opposing batters. 

“And he makes adjustments,” Trout kept going. “If the slider’s not working one night, he’ll throw the split. That’s a special talent to have the arsenal he does.”

In the same stretch as his six most recent starts, Ohtani the designated hitter has been pretty good, too. In those 32 games, Ohtani has a .964 OPS, eight homers, 24 RBIs, four doubles, two triples and three stolen bases, to go with a .394 on-base percentage.  

But, to use a Mike Trout quote for a second time, “Anything Shohei does doesn’t surprise me anymore.”