MLB Twitter roasted Shohei Ohtani’s Home Run Derby pitcher after he was eliminated
By Mark Powell
Baseball fans got plenty of Shohei Ohtani home runs in the Derby, but unfortunately he only lasted one round due to the heroics of Washington Nationals star Juan Soto.
Ohtani hit six (6!) 500-foot home runs in his lone round at Coors Field, but unfortunately for him that wasn’t enough to move on. His opponent, Nationals star Juan Soto, managed to defeat him in a swing-off to advance.
It’s nothing against either player, as both Ohtani and Soto are among the faces of baseball’s next generation. If anything, the disappointment expressed by both myself and others speaks to a flawed Home Run Derby format, where the players are forced to face off in a bracket to benefit…absolutely no one.
Ohtani’s Derby pitcher received plenty of heat after he was eliminated in the first round.
Home Run Derby: Shohei Ohtani’s pitcher catching flack
Ohtani’s Derby performance was solid — 28 home runs in total — but it wasn’t enough to get him to the next round. As always, someone had to be the fall guy.
Oh, well ... Ohtani got off to too slow a start, trying too hard to hit too many poor pitches from a BP pitcher who almost seemed to be trying to get him out. In the end, Soto just had too much clutch, controlled power. Too bad for baseball.
— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) July 13, 2021
Leave it to Skip to make a terrible take with just a hint of truth sprinkled in.
Ohtani would be putting up prime Sammy Sosa numbers if his pitcher could actually pitch
— Oluwajomiloju (@JomiAdeniran) July 13, 2021
Ohtani's pitcher asking for warm up throws screams rattled city
— Eric Hubbs (@BarstoolHubbs) July 13, 2021
get Ohtani's pitcher outta here pic.twitter.com/WHPlW7v21p
— Treb (@treblaw) July 13, 2021
this is disgusting. get a relief pitcher to pitch to Ohtani
— Chris Vernon (@ChrisVernonShow) July 13, 2021
I’ve been a Dodger fan all my life. The fact that Ohtani made it even close in that derby matchup is insane. His pitcher was the worst I’ve ever seen. Just shows you how good he really is.
— Connor McGuire (@CoachMcGuireVPS) July 13, 2021
Him and his pitcher had no rhythm at all. Dude was up there throwing 87mph junkballs
Ohtani overcoming his pitcher to tie it up pic.twitter.com/KNMOuIAbTt
— Antonio (@FlowCries) July 13, 2021
The tiebreaker should have been Soto pitching to Ohtani and Ohtani pitching to Soto.
— Nick Pollack (@PitcherList) July 13, 2021
Who else thinks that Shohei Ohtani would have won if his pitcher didn’t throw tons of low pitches? #HRDerby
— treasonspider7 (@animates_marcel) July 13, 2021
https://twitter.com/NotPoIo/status/1414763530796998657
There were many, many more.
While hitting as many home runs as possible in a short timespan is tough, so is throwing consistent batting practice for that many minutes. On the biggest stage, there were bound to be a few pitches out of the zone.
Next. Shohei Ohtani is making me look like an idiot with every home run (Video). dark