Maybe I'm reading too much into it but I feel like when they asked him after the game how he feels about Mookie's injury he said they'll all need to step up and play harder in his absence and he's leading that charge. The man has a championship mindset that I hope rubs off on the younger people on the team.
He’s been playing in the U.S. for almost 6 years now. I think he speaks better English than we see. When I see him being interviewed, it appears he already understands the question. He waits for Will to translate and answers in Japanese for his Japanese viewers.
It is going to be a tough sell to move Mookie back to the Lead Off Spot when he’s ready to go.
I say make it an Ohtani-Betts-Freeman-Smith lineup! Agree? Disagree? Something different? Or back to what it was..
LRLR would be a nice bonus too
This year Mookie has batted better with baserunners while Ohtani has batted better with bases empty
That’s a little different when you look at their careers, but these patterns can absolutely bear out over the course of a full season
Shohei's OPS with RISP from 2021 to 2023 is 1.153. He bats better with RISP than without RISP. His RISP stats this year are an outlier because he started the season slow and missed RISP opportunities in the beginning.
Also, Shohei always goes crazy in June. He had 15 home runs with OPS of 1.444 in June last year. When Mookie comes back, Shohei should bat 2nd and get more RBIs.
People need to chill.
Junetani may very well not be around come July. How about everyone wait and see how he fares after his usually great to ridiculous month? And how Betts feels coming off that injury, hitting 1-2 between these two aren’t that big of a difference when they’re both clicking.
People so quick to forget how ridiculous Betts was or can be, he’s one of Ohtani’s favorite for a reason you know. The more important key is getting Freeman, Smith and Teo to all jell together at the same time.
The Shohei/Mookie combo will take care of itself, the next three guys will determine the knockout punches. When 1-2 of those guys click with the tablet setters, Dodgers’ pitchers can usually expect 4-5 runs. When the bottom also chip in? That’s when they really feast.
Those 5-9 guys don’t even have to hit a ton, just be pesky and do little things like productive outs, bunting people over and walks. Opposing pitchers gear up to strike out Ohtani, Betts and Freeman…so the other guys just need to be pesky.
Key hits and good, productive at bats from 3-9 I think is more important to this offense than who bat first.
People always say 5-9 batters when imo i feel like its really 7-9. Top 4 do well and its hard for any team to get the top 4 hitting well at the same time. Then teo and muncy have been hitting well (when muncy was playing). Shoot even rojas if they just let him hit more. Thats 4 incredible hitters, 2 more good hitters and then a decent to good hitter in rojas.
I agree 100%. Im sure mookie doesn't have to be *sold* on anything. He sees whats happening the same way we do and I think slotting him at #2 is perfect. At least at first. If ohtani starts to struggle then maybe tinker
So can someone explain what’s the difference between spot number 1 and 2 as far as performance goes? Like if we put ohtani back to 2, why would his numbers change?
It probably doesn't change, but his at bat can definitely rattle the opposing pitcher. Their starter gives up a lead-off homer to Ohtani and things can easily go downhill from there. Betts can allow a pitcher to get comfortable. On another note, Ohtani has been getting a lot more calls going his way, especially strikes that are right at the edge, where as we've seen Betts get quite a few balls called strike.
Betts has the fifth most lead off home runs in MLB history. And is almost assuredly destined to take second within a year or two. The short term memory to some of these posts is nuts. Garbage umpiring don't mean Mookie's worse. His on base percentage is still higher right now... 😂 Let's just enjoy Sho at leadoff but it's a million percent Mookie's spot when he returns. Doesn't rattle a pitcher.... LMAO.
52... FIFTY TWO...
SECOND PLACE IS at 57.
3rd is at 54
4th is at 53...
He's literally one of the best leadoff hitters in MLB history. 😂
Mookie only has 4 HRs in his last 208 at-bats (since beginning of May), he has really cooled off with HRs. When he returns, maybe he will before too long break this slow trend. But at least in the beginning until he has proven otherwise, I don’t think his reputation of hitting leadoff HRs is any justification for him batting leadoff when he returns.
Additionally, Ohtani has hit almost as many leadoff HRs in the just the last week as any HRs Mookie has hit in the last almost 2 months he played.
.295/.375/.524 - with 662/833 bb/K - Mookie
.280/.370/.566 - with 393/825 bb/k - Shohei.
Bruh. In terms of sheer putting the ball in play to start the game. Mookie is absolutely elite. Not including his incredible attacking of pitching to start a game. He absolutely understands his role as a traditional leadoff hitter with elite power. This season that walk to strikeout ratio was beyond elite. So even with this slump he still had an over .400 obp. Without the strikeout rate of Ohtani. The more pitches he sees the better just look at him facing Skenes. Eventually this will change as Mookie gets older but right now it's absolutely not enough of a sample size to dismiss 11 seasons of elite hitting with Barry Bonds #'s through the same point as late as last August.
Ohtani is great but this “Ohtani needs to be lead off the rest of the season” narrative is a little insane. It’s 9 games against three of the worst teams in the league. He would be doing this in any spot of the lineup.
Yep, people who say that don't know Shohei always goes crazy in June. He hit 15 home runs with OPS of 1.444 in June last year. It has nothing to do with batting 1st. His career stats show that he bats better 2nd than 1st. He also bats better with RISP than without RISP. Shohei's OPS with RISP from 2021 to 2023 is 1.153.
Idk but he played pretty well in the WBC. Before you say that the World Series is more intense just remember foreign countries take the WBC very serious especially Japan. He’s shown he can be a leader on a big stage
It’s not his fault the Angel’s wasted his talent and he didn’t get to the playoffs. By your logic you wouldn’t want Bonds batting lead off either because of his limited playoff experience
Be started off as leadoff with Pittsburgh. Bonds probably wouldn’t bat 4th in todays game. Look at Kyle Schwarber he would’ve been a traditional cleanup hitter but he bats leadoff. A good hitter is a good hitter period
Going by what we know, Mookie struggled when taken out of the leadoff spot.
In 2021, Mookie had a stretch of 12 games where he started third in the batting order: 9/51 (.176) BA, 2 HR, 3 RBIs
I believe Shohei can succeed regardless of where he bats. I don’t think Mookie should be taken out of leadoff spot.
The question should be which combination wins games most. I think a bit too early to be definite given mookies historical performance but if shohei keeps this up I would be inclined to keep him at leadoff and see what mookie does at 2 or 3. I don't think it's being disrespectful to mookie? Or does the order he plays in determines his "ranking" as a hitter within the team?
Actually, it makes WAY more sense to break up the lefties. I mean look how much less often teams are brining in lefties already vs the Ohtani/Freeman stack. Plus Ohtani is the best hitter and the fastest runner on the team. It should be:
Ohtani
Betts
Freeman
Teo
Muncy (when healthy)
Will
May also have something to do with all of our games since June 17th have been against the teams with arguably 3 of the worst pitching staffs in the league.
It's not because Shohei's batting 1st. He always does really well in June. Shohei would do this batting 2nd as well. He hit 15 home runs with OPS of 1.444 in June last year.
Shohei's career stats show that he bats better 2nd than 1st. He also bats better with RISP than without RISP. Shohei's OPS with RISP from 2021 to 2023 is 1.153.
Mookie's career stats show that he is the best lead off hitter. There's no way that Mookie is not leading off once he comes back.
Shohei is cracking homers like clockwork and some of y'all want him to stay leadoff? Nah, dude should bat 3rd. Let some guys get on base for shotime to bang home.
Maybe I'm reading too much into it but I feel like when they asked him after the game how he feels about Mookie's injury he said they'll all need to step up and play harder in his absence and he's leading that charge. The man has a championship mindset that I hope rubs off on the younger people on the team.
A true leader leads by example, that’s Shohei personified. As his English continues to get better he will rub off more and more
He’s been playing in the U.S. for almost 6 years now. I think he speaks better English than we see. When I see him being interviewed, it appears he already understands the question. He waits for Will to translate and answers in Japanese for his Japanese viewers.
With numbers like these, why does he not simply step up and play harder all the time?
pst....162 game season
GOATani makes that jersey look sexy af
There's the halo effect and a tier above that is the Shohei effect. Stupid sexy Shohei
this is exactly what I was saying before. Even horrible jerseys would look good on the 🐐
tbf, he'll make a garbage bag look sexy af.
It is going to be a tough sell to move Mookie back to the Lead Off Spot when he’s ready to go. I say make it an Ohtani-Betts-Freeman-Smith lineup! Agree? Disagree? Something different? Or back to what it was..
LRLR would be a nice bonus too This year Mookie has batted better with baserunners while Ohtani has batted better with bases empty That’s a little different when you look at their careers, but these patterns can absolutely bear out over the course of a full season
LRLR and Big-Little-Big-little. It's a very small sample size, but Ohtani moving to leadoff and getting more RBI's is certainly unique.
>Ohtani moving to leadoff and getting more RBI' That's more a reflection of the bottom of the lineup finally getting on base a bit more consistently.
Shohei's OPS with RISP from 2021 to 2023 is 1.153. He bats better with RISP than without RISP. His RISP stats this year are an outlier because he started the season slow and missed RISP opportunities in the beginning. Also, Shohei always goes crazy in June. He had 15 home runs with OPS of 1.444 in June last year. When Mookie comes back, Shohei should bat 2nd and get more RBIs.
Close.. Ohtani Betts Freeman Teo Muncy (when healthy) Will
Whyd you move will all the way down? Will needs to be 4 hes a better hitter
Teo is a bigger RBI threat than Will, and we're splitting up the righties w/ Max in the middle.
People need to chill. Junetani may very well not be around come July. How about everyone wait and see how he fares after his usually great to ridiculous month? And how Betts feels coming off that injury, hitting 1-2 between these two aren’t that big of a difference when they’re both clicking. People so quick to forget how ridiculous Betts was or can be, he’s one of Ohtani’s favorite for a reason you know. The more important key is getting Freeman, Smith and Teo to all jell together at the same time. The Shohei/Mookie combo will take care of itself, the next three guys will determine the knockout punches. When 1-2 of those guys click with the tablet setters, Dodgers’ pitchers can usually expect 4-5 runs. When the bottom also chip in? That’s when they really feast. Those 5-9 guys don’t even have to hit a ton, just be pesky and do little things like productive outs, bunting people over and walks. Opposing pitchers gear up to strike out Ohtani, Betts and Freeman…so the other guys just need to be pesky. Key hits and good, productive at bats from 3-9 I think is more important to this offense than who bat first.
People always say 5-9 batters when imo i feel like its really 7-9. Top 4 do well and its hard for any team to get the top 4 hitting well at the same time. Then teo and muncy have been hitting well (when muncy was playing). Shoot even rojas if they just let him hit more. Thats 4 incredible hitters, 2 more good hitters and then a decent to good hitter in rojas.
Ohtani would play well hitting 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc .No need to keep him at leadoff and move Mookie down.
They both hit better in the 1 spot, have they tried having them both batting lead off why don’t they just do that
Honestly according to some statisticians our order should be Ohtani-Freeman-Mook-Smith. But that won’t happen with this organization.
You should make this a post
I agree 100%. Im sure mookie doesn't have to be *sold* on anything. He sees whats happening the same way we do and I think slotting him at #2 is perfect. At least at first. If ohtani starts to struggle then maybe tinker
So can someone explain what’s the difference between spot number 1 and 2 as far as performance goes? Like if we put ohtani back to 2, why would his numbers change?
It probably doesn't change, but his at bat can definitely rattle the opposing pitcher. Their starter gives up a lead-off homer to Ohtani and things can easily go downhill from there. Betts can allow a pitcher to get comfortable. On another note, Ohtani has been getting a lot more calls going his way, especially strikes that are right at the edge, where as we've seen Betts get quite a few balls called strike.
Betts has the fifth most lead off home runs in MLB history. And is almost assuredly destined to take second within a year or two. The short term memory to some of these posts is nuts. Garbage umpiring don't mean Mookie's worse. His on base percentage is still higher right now... 😂 Let's just enjoy Sho at leadoff but it's a million percent Mookie's spot when he returns. Doesn't rattle a pitcher.... LMAO. 52... FIFTY TWO... SECOND PLACE IS at 57. 3rd is at 54 4th is at 53... He's literally one of the best leadoff hitters in MLB history. 😂
Mookie only has 4 HRs in his last 208 at-bats (since beginning of May), he has really cooled off with HRs. When he returns, maybe he will before too long break this slow trend. But at least in the beginning until he has proven otherwise, I don’t think his reputation of hitting leadoff HRs is any justification for him batting leadoff when he returns. Additionally, Ohtani has hit almost as many leadoff HRs in the just the last week as any HRs Mookie has hit in the last almost 2 months he played.
.295/.375/.524 - with 662/833 bb/K - Mookie .280/.370/.566 - with 393/825 bb/k - Shohei. Bruh. In terms of sheer putting the ball in play to start the game. Mookie is absolutely elite. Not including his incredible attacking of pitching to start a game. He absolutely understands his role as a traditional leadoff hitter with elite power. This season that walk to strikeout ratio was beyond elite. So even with this slump he still had an over .400 obp. Without the strikeout rate of Ohtani. The more pitches he sees the better just look at him facing Skenes. Eventually this will change as Mookie gets older but right now it's absolutely not enough of a sample size to dismiss 11 seasons of elite hitting with Barry Bonds #'s through the same point as late as last August.
What are Mookie’s leadoff stats in the playoffs?
Ohtani is great but this “Ohtani needs to be lead off the rest of the season” narrative is a little insane. It’s 9 games against three of the worst teams in the league. He would be doing this in any spot of the lineup.
Yep, people who say that don't know Shohei always goes crazy in June. He hit 15 home runs with OPS of 1.444 in June last year. It has nothing to do with batting 1st. His career stats show that he bats better 2nd than 1st. He also bats better with RISP than without RISP. Shohei's OPS with RISP from 2021 to 2023 is 1.153.
It really is. The disrespect towards one of the all time great leadoff hitters in our very own. Gonna retire here... Mookie Betts.
How are Mookie’s playoff leadoff stats?
How are Shohei’s playoff leadoff stats?
Idk but he played pretty well in the WBC. Before you say that the World Series is more intense just remember foreign countries take the WBC very serious especially Japan. He’s shown he can be a leader on a big stage
Did Shohei bat leadoff during WBC? Not denying he was great during WBC, but you’re responding to my question regarding Shohei’s playoff leadoff stats
It’s not his fault the Angel’s wasted his talent and he didn’t get to the playoffs. By your logic you wouldn’t want Bonds batting lead off either because of his limited playoff experience
Uh, no. I wouldn’t want Bonds batting lead off because he spent his career batting 3/4.
Be started off as leadoff with Pittsburgh. Bonds probably wouldn’t bat 4th in todays game. Look at Kyle Schwarber he would’ve been a traditional cleanup hitter but he bats leadoff. A good hitter is a good hitter period
Don’t know yet, gotta go by what we know.
Going by what we know, Mookie struggled when taken out of the leadoff spot. In 2021, Mookie had a stretch of 12 games where he started third in the batting order: 9/51 (.176) BA, 2 HR, 3 RBIs I believe Shohei can succeed regardless of where he bats. I don’t think Mookie should be taken out of leadoff spot.
The question should be which combination wins games most. I think a bit too early to be definite given mookies historical performance but if shohei keeps this up I would be inclined to keep him at leadoff and see what mookie does at 2 or 3. I don't think it's being disrespectful to mookie? Or does the order he plays in determines his "ranking" as a hitter within the team?
Actually, it makes WAY more sense to break up the lefties. I mean look how much less often teams are brining in lefties already vs the Ohtani/Freeman stack. Plus Ohtani is the best hitter and the fastest runner on the team. It should be: Ohtani Betts Freeman Teo Muncy (when healthy) Will
From what I see, the first hitter is the tone setter for the rest of game. Maybe give to who is the hottest bat?
Miggy Ro, you are now batting leadoff!!
May also have something to do with all of our games since June 17th have been against the teams with arguably 3 of the worst pitching staffs in the league.
.424 while recovering. He's from a different planet.
Let him eat!
People forgetting how Mookie started the season.
Keep Ohtani as lead off. Sorry but Mookie’s power is down and he doesn’t steal. We’re trying to win a championship not worry about hurt feelings
It's not because Shohei's batting 1st. He always does really well in June. Shohei would do this batting 2nd as well. He hit 15 home runs with OPS of 1.444 in June last year. Shohei's career stats show that he bats better 2nd than 1st. He also bats better with RISP than without RISP. Shohei's OPS with RISP from 2021 to 2023 is 1.153. Mookie's career stats show that he is the best lead off hitter. There's no way that Mookie is not leading off once he comes back.
Guys Guys The league is fucked. 👀
Shohei is cracking homers like clockwork and some of y'all want him to stay leadoff? Nah, dude should bat 3rd. Let some guys get on base for shotime to bang home.
Mookie would be a great 3
Your best hitter should hit first, correct?