Shohei Ohtani's recent offensive struggles are not attributable to his lingering left knee injury, according to Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. Ohtani has been in an uncharacteristic slump since the All-Star break, going 7-for-38 with no home runs.
Questions have arisen regarding a potential correlation between Ohtani's slump and the lubricant injection he received during the break to address his knee issue. This injury has also prevented him from pitching since July 3. However, Roberts has dismissed this theory, stating that Ohtani and the training staff have indicated the injury is not affecting his hitting mechanics.
"I can only go by what him and the training staff is telling me," Roberts said. "Unless I hear otherwise, that hitting compromises his health, then I’m going to keep putting him in the lineup."
Ohtani played through his knee problem for much of June and did not appear significantly hampered offensively in the 27 games leading up to the All-Star break. During that period, he batted .273 with 11 home runs and a .987 OPS. Following the break, on a recent nine-game road trip, Ohtani recorded only three extra-base hits and struck out 10 times in 41 plate appearances, while driving in three runs.
"The quality of contact since the break has gone down considerably," Roberts acknowledged Sunday after the Dodgers' loss to the Mets. "I feel like he’s just not squaring the baseball up. There’s a lot of balls that are just mishit."
Despite the slump, Ohtani's season OPS of .907 still ranks sixth best in the National League. This is not the first time Ohtani has experienced an offensive lull; he hit .200 with one home run over a 26-game stretch a couple of months prior, before regaining his form. Ohtani has not spoken to reporters himself since before the All-Star break.