Joey Votto pinpoints the exact pitches behind Shohei Ohtani's 2026 slump

Joey Votto pinpoints the exact pitches behind Shohei Ohtani's 2026 slump originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

Joey Votto expects a massive breakout from Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani, dismissing any panic over his early-season offensive slump as a simple, fixable technical glitch.

Appearing on MLB Network's MLB Now, the former MVP broke down Ohtani's mechanics to explain why elite production is right around the corner.

What Joey Votto sees at the plate

Votto identified that Ohtani's primary issue is an approach error, rather than a physical decline or deep mechanical flaw.

Ohtani is suffering from what Votto calls a "slight targeting issue."

He is currently letting his targeting get "a bit too close to him," making him overly eager on pitches at the top and outside portions of the strike zone.

Once Ohtani makes a small adjustment to dominate and own the "up-and-away" and "middle-up" pitches, he will let the ball get deeper into the zone.

At his very best, Ohtani's strength is his ability to "back the ball up" in his swing and drive it to the opposite field. Right now, he is just ever-so-slightly mistiming that point of contact.