Mookie Betts rarely swings and misses. What happens when he faces Shohei Ohtani?
Shohei Ohtani on Tuesday night faces what may be his most potent competition this season - a Boston Red Sox lineup that's only been outpaced by his Los Angeles Angels so far.
And the ultimate game within the game may come when Ohtani faces Mookie Betts for the first time in his career.
Ohtani leads major league pitchers with a 35.2% swinging strike percentage, inducing 25 swings and misses in a single game, with all 18 of his strikeouts this season coming on a swinging third strike. Of the 10 batters he's faced this season -- in two starts against the Oakland Athletics -- he's struck out eight them.
Ohtani also ranks 11th among starters in total percentage of pitches a batter swings at with 49.7%, according to Fangraphs.
Betts may prove to be quite a foil, however.
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As major league batters struck out in a record 21.6% of plate appearances in 2017, Betts was among the hardest to punch out, fanning in 11% of plate appearances, third-fewest in the American League. He went 129 plate appearances without a strikeout, the longest streak in the majors since 2004.
He's cut his strikeout rate to 9.7% this year, swinging at just 15.4% of pitches outside the strike zone, the third-best rate in baseball, according to Fangraphs.
Meanwhile, Ohtani induces batters to miss on 37% of his pitches outside the strike zone.
Betts, batting .353, makes contact with the ball 89% of the time he swings -- whether it's inside or outside the zone, and has a 3.5% swinging strike percentage, according to Fangraphs. Major leaguers averaged nearly a 10% swing-and-miss rate last season.
Betts’ ability to cover the plate and take advantage of strikes is hard to find in today’s game. But then again, Ohtani's blend of skills -- on the mound and at the plate -- was last seen during Babe Ruth's days.
Their battles within a battle should be highly intriguing.