ANAHEIM — If anyone should now be accustomed to what Shohei Ohtani does on the mound, it should be the player who has caught almost all of his pitches this season.

But Max Stassi remains in awe.

A day after Ohtani took his new sinker to a higher level in Saturday night’s game, Stassi said Ohtani is now doing “video game stuff.”

“Guys spent years trying to figure out how to throw a pitch, how to get a slider going,” Stassi said. “His hand placement and awareness of how to spin the ball is out of this world, literally.”

Ohtani had never thrown a sinker until he busted one out in his July 6 start at Miami. He had been fooling around with it in the bullpen. After some more experimenting, he threw it six times in his Aug. 15 start against the Seattle Mariners. He didn’t use it at all in his next start, when he was pitching through a stomach virus on Aug. 21. His following start was in Toronto, and Ohtani threw five sinkers in a grueling first inning, and then he threw only one the rest of the game.

It was still a work in progress.

But on Saturday night, Ohtani threw sinkers 18 times among his season-high 111 pitches. He gave up one run in eight innings.

“It was definitely better,” Stassi said of the sinker. “He had better command, better feel. It’s a new pitch. That’s the story of Shohei, sometimes the first couple of things are certain way and he’ll flip the script for the second half of his outing or the next couple innings. He had a good feel for it.”

In the third inning, he threw Astros outfielder Chas McCormick a sinker that registered at 99.7 mph and had 21 inches of run, which means movement on the arm side.

Shohei Ohtani, Wicked 100mph Sinker. pic.twitter.com/NcpyGSXL0C

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) September 4, 2022

“That’s elite elite,” Stassi said.

Now that Ohtani has that pitch in his arsenal, he can also throw a slider that moves 18 to 20 inches in the other direction, at around 85 to 87 mph. He throws a splitter at around 92 mph that goes straight down. He also throws a 100 mph four-seam fastball that goes straight.

LORENZEN’S RETURN

Right-hander Michael Lorenzen, who has been out for two months with shoulder strain, will start on Friday in Houston.

Lorenzen said he will have four or five starts left, which should help show how much of his struggles before the injury were related to pitching through the discomfort. Lorenzen said his shoulder was bothering him in his final two starts, when he allowed nine earned runs in six innings. Prior to that, he had a 4.15 ERA through 11 starts.

“I knew is his his command was off,” Nevin said of watching Lorenzen’s final two starts before he went on the injured list. “You could tell that he really didn’t have the command of his two seamer that he normally does. Hitters can kind of lean out over the plate with his slider, so the two-seamer kind of keeps them off that. Watching the videos of his last couple of starts (in the minors), the control has been good…  We feel like he’s right back to where he was.”

Lorenzen’s start on Friday in Houston will push Reid Detmers back, so he will start either Sunday in Houston or the next day in Cleveland. Ohtani is scheduled to pitch on Saturday in Houston.

NOTES

Outfielder Mickey Moniak (fractured finger) has been taking batting practice since Wednesday. He said he is expecting to go on a rehab assignment sometime this week …

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Ohtani had the day off Sunday, which Nevin said was his decision because of the expected excessive temperature and the fact that Ohtani had pitched the night before. Nevin said Mike Trout will be off on Wednesday …

The Angels acquired right-hander Nash Walters from the Milwaukee Brewers in exchange for cash considerations. Walters, 25, had a 4.47 ERA in 48-1/3 innings this season, almost all of them at Double-A. He struck out 12.3 and walked 2.8 hitters per nine innings. A former third-round pick, Walters has never pitched in the majors. Walters was optioned to Triple-A Salt Lake.

To create a spot on the 40-man roster for Walters, the Angels moved left-hander Jhonathan Diaz to the 60-day injured list.

UP NEXT

Angels (LHP José Suarez, 5-6, 4.10) vs. Tigers (LHP Tyler Alexander, 3-8, 4.76), Monday, 6:38 p.m., Bally Sports West, 830 AM