How will Shohei Ohtani fit into the Angels’ lineup?

The Angels’ lineup was straight garbage in 2017. Just an embarrassing mess of ineptitude whenever Mike Trout or Andrelton Simmons weren’t the ones at the plate, at least until Justin Upton showed up in August and made it so you could say nice things about one-third of the lineup.

So, even if Shohei Ohtani isn’t a transcendent hitter in his rookie season with the Angels and MLB, he’s likely going to be an upgrade. An upgrade over whom, though, is the question.

Let’s assume Ohtani is going to hit in three out of every five games. In one of those five, he’ll be pitching and presumably not hitting — he could bat on his days on the mound, but that would leave the Angels without a designated hitter after his exits. The other day is a day off, because he’s going to be going hard all year long between the days in the field and the ones on the mound. So you’re talking roughly 100 games in field over the course of the season.

Of course, he might throw fewer innings over a season by making fewer starts to compensate for the time in the field, so it could be more like 110 or 115 or 120 games — and given he slugged well over .500 the last two years with on-base percentages over .400, the Angels might be into the idea of those extra at-bats. The point is, though, Ohtani won’t be hitting in 162 games or even 150 games, and the Angels will need someone on the roster who can fill in for Ohtani in the lineup in those other contests.

The Angels need to find a space for Ohtani that makes sense for him and for them. He was an outfielder in Nippon Professional Baseball, spending time in both left and right field, though, mostly in right — it’s not a surprise that someone with the arm to pitch would also have the arm for right field.

Left field in Los Angeles is spoken for, as it’s where Justin Upton plays. Right field, though, is Kole Calhoun, who was less responsible for the trash fire that was the Angels’ lineup than many, but still had a below-average line with a sub-.400 slugging percentage. He’s not a bad rebound candidate, at least, so a combination of Ohtani and Calhoun in right field could work for the Angels.

That straight platoon of sorts may not be the best usage of Ohtani, though, as the Angels could do some addition by subtraction by changing Ohtani’s position. Albert Pujols hit .241/.286/.386 in 2017, and even after adjusting for park and more, his OPS+ still only came out to 81: that’s worse than what Jason Heyward managed this past summer, and Heyward’s contract is a joke even with what his glove is bringing to the table. Pujols’ season was one of the worst for a 37-year-old in history, and he’s not going to be any younger in 2018.

The Angels probably aren’t going to be able to get Pujols out of their lineup everyday, not when he’s being paid $27 million in 2018, and $114 million in total before his contract runs out after 2021. They could make him more of a part-time player, though, admitting he’s a bit of a sunk cost without removing him from the proceedings entirely. It might actually help Pujols out a little, as he’d be exposed less often to the opposition, and the 38-year-old would be fresher, too. And if you saw him run at all in 2017, well, fresher legs would not hurt the all-time great.

Having Ohtani spend time at DH instead of Pujols would work, especially since Ohtani is going to have so many days off throughout the year that Pujols could fill in for. Ohtani could also spend some time in right field, since it’s not a new position to learn for him. First base is another option, if the Angels want to teach Ohtani that position and let C.J. Cron — another rebound candidate — and Pujols fight over DH at-bats, with Cron filling in at first when Ohtani cannot.

It seems unlikely the Angels would want to saddle Ohtani, who is new to MLB and already working on two jobs, to learn a third, however. So, a combination of right field and designated hitter seems to make the most sense.

If Calhoun rebounds to his 2013-2016 levels, when he posted a 115 OPS+ and batted .267/.329/.438, the Angels might want to think about having Ohtani play additional DH. But this is a good way for the Angels to keep Pujols fresh, keep Ohtani fresher throughout the season, and lean on the chance for Calhoun to rebound and give the Halos additional lineup depth.