Shohei Ohtani on Tue, Sep 8, 2026

Ohtani goes hitless again as breaking balls keep him off balance

Ohtani went 0-for-3 with a walk and two strikeouts today. Over his last 10 games he's just 5-for-39 (.128) with zero home runs, a sharp drop from his .277/.902 season line. The power outage that began in late August has carried straight through this outing, and today did nothing to reverse the trend.

Looking at today's pitch mix, the sweeper was the most-used offering at 5 of 13 pitches (29%), averaging 83.0 mph with only a 20% strike rate — pitchers were content to bury it out of the zone rather than challenge him. The changeup, though thrown just three times, generated two whiffs on a 67% strike rate, making it the most effective pitch against him today. His 98.0 mph four-seam carried a solid 67% strike rate but drew zero swings and misses, functioning more as a count-setter than a putaway pitch. His platoon splits show he's historically stronger against right-handers (.280/.913, 18 HR in 328 AB) than left-handers (.270/.879, 12 HR in 174 AB), which frames today's struggles against a breaking-ball-heavy approach as part of a broader pattern rather than an isolated slump — pitchers of either hand can exploit a similar soft-stuff-early game plan when he's cold.

Unico's take: given the elite level Ohtani has maintained all season, a stretch like this sits well within normal variance for a hitter of his caliber. The real thing to watch next time out is whether he starts catching up to those secondary pitches earlier in the count.