Shohei Ohtani joins Juan Soto, Aaron Judge, Rafael Devers with rare on-base feat vs. Giants’ Justin Verlander

On Friday night, Shohei Ohtani's LA Dodgers suffered a 5-1 defeat against the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park. In the third inning against Justin Verlander, Ohtani was walked for the 100th time this season, making him a part of the exclusive club, featuring Juan Soto, Aaron Judge and Rafael Devers.

On X (formerly Twitter), Bill Plunkett, a Dodgers beat writer, tweeted about Ohtani's achievement. He wrote:

"4 players in MLB have drawn 100 walks this season: Juan Soto, Aaron Judge, Rafael Devers and now #Dodgers Shohei Ohtani"

You can check Plunkett's tweet below:

Shohei Ohtani has been in tremendous touch this season. In 552 at-bats, he has batted .279 along with 131 runs, 48 home runs and 92 RBIs.

MLB analyst suggests Shohei Ohtani needs to close out games ahead of postseason

The Dodgers are the defending World Series champions, and they would like to win a second consecutive World Series. However, the team's bullpen has been misfiring lately.

Keeping that in mind, an MLB analyst suggested a plan that could help the Dodgers. On an episode of Baseball Today, Trevor Plouffe suggested that the team should use Ohtani to close games.

"I think the way they approach it in the wild-card round would be, Yamamoto, Snell, Glasnow as starters," Plouffe said (Timestamp: 5:30). "I think we have a Clayton Kershaw kind of piggyback situation. In my mind, this is what I would do, I'd have Shohei Ohtani ready to come in, put the fire out at the end of games.

"They can't close games out right now. Shohei's the guy to do that. ... You can't put Tanner Scott out there right now, you can't. ... This is not about him right now, it's about the team, and the best chance to win is not having him on the back end of games right now."

Apart from being a quality hitter, Ohtani is a good pitcher. His abilities as a pitcher earned him praise from Dodgers legend Clayton Kershaw.

About the author

Varun is a Golf and MLB journalist for Sportskeeda with over 4 years of work experience in his bag. He has a Master’s degree in Journalism and Mass Communication, and has worked for many sites, including EssentiallySports, FanSided, Khel Now, Get Football, and a few others.

Varun is a fan of golfer Scottie Scheffler due to the latter’s mindset, and he admires Aaron Judge and his ability to keep being consistent. As a purist golf fan, he would love to compete at the Masters if given the opportunity, but is also happy with LIV Golf driving more eyeballs towards the sport. If he gets the chance to play for an MLB team, he would love to play for the New York Yankees.

Varun’s mantra for writing factually correct feature articles is thorough verification. Another key element in his writing is staying updated with both sports through the official websites of pro wrestling and Golf. He has had the privilege of interviewing MMA legend Greg Jackson in his career so far.

Varun likes to spend his free time reading or writing poetry and fiction. He also plans to learn and play golf in his spare time.

Know More

Edited by Krutik Jain