Dodgers Coach Says Shohei Ohtani is Best Pitcher He's Ever Seen in One Specific Category

Jul 12, 2025; San Francisco, California, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Shohei Ohtani (17) throws a pitch against the San Francisco Giants during the first inning at Oracle Park. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images | Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani has a 1.00 ERA across nine innings this season.

His most recent outing against the San Francisco Giants consisted of three scoreless innings — the first time he pitched through the third this season — and four strikeouts. The fact that he also leads the National League in home runs (32) just adds more to the legend that he continues to write every game.

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Dodgers assistant pitching coach Connor McGuiness spoke on not just the brilliance of Ohtani even taking the mound and supplying quality innings, but one specific facet of his game that sets him apart from the pack.

“He uses the ground better than any pitcher I’ve ever watched,” McGuiness says. “Just the divots he creates on the push off, even the landing, just the amount of energy he’s actually sending up through his chain is unheard of for me. And having been here now for a number of years, we’ve had a handful of really incredible pitchers — Hall of Famers — and I’ve never seen anyone use the ground the way he does.”

The elite power that Ohtani generates and his ability to get batters to constantly swing and miss, something he did 30.8 percent of the time during his 2023 pitching season which was good for the 82nd percentile among the majors, comes from the ground.

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As McGuiness noted, this ability to use something that every single pitcher uses day in and day out in order to drive his success is miraculous, but for someone that has had multiple surgeries on his elbow, perhaps it comes from neccesity.

In the nine-inning sample that Ohtani has presented this season, his fastball is still among the best in baseball.

His 98.4 mph average four-seamer is in the 95th percentile across MLB this season. His .143 batting average against it is just as severe for those who unfortunately have to line up across from him.

Regardless of why Ohtani is so good at utilizing the ground to generate power, it is certainly working on a Hall of Fame according to McGuiness.

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