The right of the Angelino of Los Angeles d’Anaheim, Shohei Ohtani, Opened from the hill on Sunday night in front of the Chicago White Sox and was also aimed at the lineup as the team’s second hitter, the first time he is in the lineup in the same game that begins as a pitcher during a regular season game in the Major Leagues, so the Japanese made history.
But this is a rarity at the MLB level. He is the first pitcher to bat second in order in 118 years since Jack Dunleavy made it to the Cardinals on September 7, 1903. And only two pitchers have batted for themselves with the designated hitter rule available since that Ken Brett did it twice in 1976. Andy Sonnanstine, of the Tampa Bay Rays, beat for himself by an error in the lineup curiously of the manager Joe Maddon, whereas Madison Bumgarner did it in an interliga encounter against the Athletics in 2016 in Oakland:
The danger is that if Ohtani continues like this and has short outings, the team would lose the BD for the rest of the game. But it’s a risk the Angelinos are willing to run, given Ohtani’s talent with wood.
Ohtani is also the first hitter to start playing as a pitcher and hitter in three seasons since Bobby Reis did it for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1935 and with the Boston Bees in 1936 and 1937. Ohtani had previously done so when he won the Rookie from the year to 2018 and again last season.
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So far, Ohtani had been kept off the lineup the day before, the day after and the day of his openings, but this year the team is being more aggressive with him. Ohtani himself communicates with the coaching staff to decide when he wants to be in the lineup. The club experimented with him beating and throwing in the same game twice during Spring Training and also did so during his days in Japan with the Nippon-Ham Fighters.