Brad Ausmus casually ruins anticipated Shohei Ohtani-Yusei Kikuchi showdown
Los Angeles Angels manager Brad Ausmus had one job Thursday night.
All he had to do was write Shohei Ohtani's name in at designated hitter so baseball fans would be treated to an anticipated showdown between Ohtani and fellow Japanese star Yusei Kikuchi.
As you’ve likely surmised, Ausmus failed to complete that simple task.
Instead, he wrote in the name of Jonathan Lucroy, the Angels’ primary catcher, as the team’s fifth batter and designated hitter for the series opener. That means Ohtani will start the game on the bench. It also means Ausmus has spoiled what could have been a pretty cool moment for baseball.
And it would appear he's not all that concerned about it.
Speaking to the media shortly after the Angels lineup was posted, Ausmus only offered this explanation.
Ausmus said he isn’t starting Ohtani against Kikuchi because he preferred the matchups against the other 2 lefties this weekend. “Japanese baseball fans don’t like me now. Tell them I’m sorry.” #Angels
— Jeff Fletcher (@JeffFletcherOCR) May 31, 2019
That’s all you got?
That’s what’s supposed to make the millions of annoyed fans who were planning to watch from Japan shrug and say “You know what, that Angels manager is a great strategist.”
What about the fans attending the game? What about the extra media that made it a point to cover a marquee matchup between emerging stars who amazingly attended the same high school?
To them, Ausmus says this: “There’s a very good chance they’ll end up facing each other at some point, so I wasn’t overly concerned about that.”
Cool.
The Angels and Mariners are in the same division. So yes, the matchup will happen eventually. And the Angels did win the game, too, roughing up Kikuchi on their way to a 9-3 win. But it wasn’t because of Lucroy. He was the only Angels starter to not record a hit, going 0 for 5.
Tommy Milone and Marco Gonzales. Those are the two lefties Ohtani will presumably face this weekend.
Perhaps Ohtani will have better at-bats against them than he would against Kikuchi. That’s good for the Angels if it works out that way. At 26-29, they need pretty much everything to go their way.
A lot fewer people will care though. That’s bad for MLB. Especially at a time when the league is struggling to attract fans.
We’ll admit Ohtani was a bit overmatched at times during his rookie season when facing left-handed pitching. That hasn’t been the case this season though. Sure, the sample size is small since he only returned from Tommy John surgery on May 7. But he’s 6 for 20 (.300) so far this season, which is better than his .222 average against lefties last season.
Oh, and it’s also better than Ohtani’s .214 average against right-handers this season.
But that’s Ausmus’ decision. He seems content standing by it. He gets the last word here, so he’ll win this battle. Unfortunately, it’s baseball fans who lose out.
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