LOS ANGELES — As a middle reliever, Erik Miller doesn’t typically handle many media responsibilities. But a few hours prior to first pitch Tuesday afternoon, a crowd of reporters huddled around the left-hander’s locker in the visitors’ clubhouse.
The group included a fair share of the Japanese press, who track Shohei Ohtani’s every movement.
That’s because word had gotten around.
The 26-year-old Stanford-educated southpaw has proven to be kryptonite for the most prodigious slugger in the sport. Of the 278 pitchers to match up against Ohtani at least four times, Miller is part of an exclusive group to strike him out each time.
“That’s not easy,” manager Bob Melvin said, putting it mildly. “He just doesn’t see him well at this point, knock wood. That’s why he’s in the game there.”
While Miller was handed the loss, allowing the decisive run of the 3-2 loss to reach base in the eighth inning, he did his job against Ohtani. He started him with a slider low and away that was met with an empty swing, came back with another slider in the dirt and then went to the top of the zone with a 97 mph heater for strike two.
The shoulder-high fastball only served to set up the next pitch, an 85 mph changeup that snapped back over the inside corner and sailed past Ohtani’s bat.
“Anytime you strike him out, it’s cool,” Miller said. “You always want strikeouts, but obviously there are certain guys that it feels a little better with.”
Only two other pitchers know the feeling specific to Ohtani: Darwinzon Hernández, now pitching in Japan, and Zach Jackson, a 29-year-old right-hander hanging around in the A’s farm system. Both pitchers own the same line as Miller: four at-bats, four strikeouts. Mets closer Edwin Díaz has struck out Ohtani four times in four at-bats, but issued a walk in their other meeting. No active pitcher has faced Ohtani five times and struck him out in each one.
With three games left at Dodger Stadium, it stands to reason Miller will get his shot.
“Get him 0-for-6, 0-for-7,” said left-hander Kyle Harrison, who can appreciate Miller’s ability to match up with the left-handed power hitter. “Miller’s got 98-99 in the tank all the time – I wish I had that – so if you’ve got that I would try to blow him away at the top of the zone every time. Guys like that, you can’t really show it twice. So he’s done a really good job of mixing it up and finishing with different pitches.”
Miller has gotten Ohtani swinging three times and looking once. He’s finished him off twice with sliders off the plate away, painted the black with 99 mph gas and, of course, broke out his changeup on his hands to get him Monday night.
“I mean, I only have three pitches, so he’s seen all the tricks I’ve got at this point,” Miller said. “I think it’s now just a sequencing thing, like can you do something he hasn’t see before? At some point if you face a guy long enough, it’s just like mano a mano, can I beat you? Here’s my best stuff.”
So, what is it about Miller that makes him so difficult on the game’s most-feared hitter? It’s not the platoon advantage. Ohtani has historically been slightly worse against lefties but still possesses a career .835 OPS (.986 vs. righties) while striking out at a 27.6% rate (24.9% vs. righties).
Harrison might be on to something with pounding the top of the strike zone with heaters. Ohtani’s weakest area of the strike zone this season has been up and in, batting .171 on 35 pitches. When he chases above the strike zone, that figure is even lower, a .111 batting average.
Against sliders, the pitch Miller has gotten him with twice, Ohtani demolishes the inside of the plate but struggles to cover the outer portion. Of the 208 sliders he’s seen on the outer third of the plate or outside the strike zone in his career, he has managed 38 hits, a .185 batting average.
“I think what I throw is some of his weaknesses, being able to go up in the zone with a fastball with higher velocity and then sliders down and away, mixing in changeups, that’s probably something he doesn’t see too often,” Miller said. “I think what I throw naturally kinds of leads to where the holes in his swing are. I don’t know how long I can keep it up, striking him out every time. But hopefully as long as I can.”
