TORONTO — Dexter Fowler’s lone at-bat against the lanky Japanese right-hander had been a battle, and it resulted in Fowler grounding out to second base.
Then a member of the Astros, playing in a five-game set against Japan’s national team as part of the 2014 Japan All-Star Series, Fowler had no reason to reflect on that at-bat until after the game, when members of the Japanese media started asking him questions about the pitcher he had faced.
“How was Ohtani?” someone asked.
“Who’s Ohtani?” Fowler responded.
They explained that Shohei Ohtani was the tall guy who had gotten him to ground out to second.
“Oh,” Fowler said. “Yeah, he’s got good stuff!”
When it was pointed out to Fowler that this Ohtani guy was an even better hitter than he was a pitcher, Fowler was instantly skeptical.
“I’ve got to see it to believe it,” Fowler remembers thinking.
All these years later, Fowler, like the rest of us, has seen it and believes it.
Attending the World Series between Ohtani’s Dodgers and the Blue Jays as part of his role as an MLB Commissioner’s Ambassador, Fowler – the former All-Star outfielder and member of the 2016 champion Cubs – is in awe that the young pitcher he faced way back in ’14 has gone on to become an MLB legend.
“This guy’s from another planet,” Fowler said with a laugh. “Like, this is crazy. You don’t see stuff like that – a top-five pitcher and a top-five hitter in the game.”
Back in that 2014 series, in which Japan prevailed three times in five games, Ohtani, then just 20 years old and coming off his second season in Nippon Professional Baseball, was running his fastball up to 99 mph. He pitched a perfect inning of relief in Game 1, then started and allowed two unearned runs in four innings in Game 5. Ohtani threw a gorgeous forkball that struck out Ben Zobrist.
Those were outings that helped place Ohtani prominently on the MLB radar, outings that led people to believe his stuff would translate to the game’s highest level. But even when he arrived with the Angels in 2018, there were many people in the industry who had doubts that he would actually stick as a two-way player.
“He struggled at first [in Spring Training],” Fowler said. “But then he hit the ground running.”
In 2021, we got our first taste of the MVP-caliber Ohtani. That was the breakthrough year in which he was an All-Star on both sides of the ball.
And Fowler, in his final MLB season, was teammates with him at the start of that season.
“Being his teammate was awesome,” Fowler said. “You look at him and you’re like, ‘Whoa, OK, like, he’s not out here with the position players. He’s pitching the whole time. And then he gets in the cage and just gets at it.’”
Fowler didn’t know what he was up against back in 2014. He knows now.
