Dave Roberts’ Odd Reaction to Shohei Ohtani’s Visible Frustration at Strike Out Call Will Upset Many Dodgers Fans

Fans witnessed a different side of Shohei Ohtani yesterday. The usually calm and composed superstar had a visible look of frustration on his face. With multiple questionable strikeout calls being made against him, Ohtani had some complaints with the umpires. However, in a surprising twist, his Los Angeles Dodgers skipper chose to be diplomatic about the entire situation.

Shohei Ohtani went two-for-four with two hits and a walk. However, the 2x MVP’s strikeout in the seventh inning proved to be a frustrating affair. The superstar stood at the plate facing Erik Miller. The plate umpire Hunger Wendelstedt’s performance then had a questionable turn. He called two borderline pitches a strike (though Ohtani swung) and that led to Ohtani’s count being 1-2. However, what left Ohtani incensed was that Wendelstedt called the punchout delivery a strike too, despite it being outside of the zone.

Shotime left for the dugout looking quite frustrated. However, in his postgame conference, Dave Roberts chose to be rather diplomatic about the entire situation. “I like Ohtani’s response, the call could’ve gone either way,” Dave Roberts said. Doc praised Ohtani for remaining firm in his zone even though he was upset due to wrong calls being made.

In a league that is increasingly taking a stand against umpires’ wrong calls, this diplomacy proved to be a bizarre step. The fact that the Los Angeles Dodgers lost this game could’ve been a catalyst for Roberts to be more aggressive. However, the skipper seems to be happy with the way his team is currently performing. As a result, it’s water under the bridge for him, at least for now

But it once again proves that umpires aren’t able to catch a break. Every day there’s a new controversy regarding their decisions. Is there an end to this saga?

Shohei Ohtani’s wrong call a part of a deeper issue

As seen from a post on X, nearly all of Ohtani’s strikeout calls in the third and seventh innings were pitches that were outside the zone. Imagine being taken out of your at-bat due to two wrong strike calls – it’d frustrate even the calmest of individuals. The issue remains that there’s no clarity regarding what is a strike-out zone.

Calls have been made regarding appointing robot umpires but the technology doesn’t seem to be there yet. So what is the solution to this issue? Especially when it has become a pandemic – case in point, Aaron Judge’s shin pitch strikeouts. Umpires have called strikes so many times on that pitch that it has been synonymous with the Aaron Judge experience. Its clear that something needs to change but how? That is the question.