ANAHEIM http://www.rangersfanproshop.com/authentic-matt-moore-jersey , Calif. (AP) —the first time since undergoing Tommy John surgery, taking another significant step in his return to pitching for the Los Angeles Angels next season.About four hours after Ohtani threw 40 pitches off a mound and made 70 additional throws on flat ground at Angel Stadium, he was in Los Angeles’ lineup as the designated hitter against Cincinnati.“I felt really comfortable,” Ohtani said through a translator. “It felt good to get up on there again.”Ohtani will not pitch for the Angels until 2020, manager Brad Ausmus confirmed once again.“No chance,” Ausmus said with a smile.But the team and its two-way star believe everything is progressing perfectly toward Ohtani’s plan to resume his two-way career next season.Ohtani had elbow ligament replacement surgery Oct. 1, and his rehabilitation has gone remarkably smoothly, even while he continues racking up impressive numbers as the Angels’ designated hitter.“Mentally, I think I have it a little bit better because I’ve been playing every day as a hitter,” Ohtani said. “I think that helps me get through it a little better than other people that can’t play.”The AL Rookie of the Year returned to the Angels’ lineup May 7, and he has been an everyday contributor at the plate while building his arm strength before games.Ohtani is batting .277 with nine homers, 31 RBIs and a .829 OPS in 42 games this season. He became the first Japanese-born player to hit for the cycle in the majors on June 13 at Tampa Bay.Ohtani said he tried to throw off the mound at about 50 percent of his full strength, in accordance with his rehab plan. Most of his throws from the mound were with the catcher standing up, but he still went through his pitching motion fairly effectively.“He looked great,” Angels pitching coach Doug White said. “It’s very low intensity … but he always knows what he wants to do. He always knows how he wants it to feel, and the process in which he’s going to get it done. It’s nice to see.”Ohtani is expected to go through the same throwing workout Saturday http://www.rangersfanproshop.com/authentic-matt-moore-jersey , White said.Ohtani went 4-2 with a 3.31 ERA and 63 strikeouts in 10 starts as a rookie for the Angels, but pitched just once after June 6. He also hit 22 homers and drove in 61 runs with a .925 OPS. FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) — It’s early in spring training, time to get the new mitt ready.Or is it?For the World Series champion Boston Red Sox, some like the feel of new leather, some like it old. Some are superstitious and don’t like change and others don’t worry about that even after a great season.“A new glove every year,” reigning AL MVP and three-time Gold Glove winner Mookie Betts said Saturday morning at the team’s spring training complex.But, is the right fielder a bit superstitious about changing after such a successful year?“No, they all catch the same,” he said, breaking into a grin. “It’s the operator.”Shortstop Xander Bogaerts agreed.“New year, new glove,” he said.World Series MVP Steve Pearce had a different thought. He’ll likely start the season with a new one if he’s broken it in on time but gave some thought to not changing anything after winning the title last fall.“I have them right here in my locker,” the first baseman said. “I’m bringing almost everything back I had last year.”But Pearce did say he changes when things aren’t going well.“Oh, for sure,” he said. “You play baseball Curtis Granderson Jersey , usually you’re superstitious. If I start out and I don’t like it, I’m not hitting or I’m not playing well, I’ll switch gloves.”When the Red Sox fired hats and gloves into the air before racing to mound to celebrate with left-hander Chris Sale after he fanned Manny Machado to defeat the Los Angeles Dodgers and end the World Series, Pearce, for one, thought a bit about whether he’d even get his glove back.“It was in the back of my mind, I was like, ‘Man, if I throw this up, I wonder how it will make it back to me,'” he said.Right-hander Nathan Eovaldi doesn’t like to change mainly because he likes the feel of his old one.“Same glove. I’ve had the same one since 2015,” he said. “It’s just comfort. I don’t do a good job breaking them in, so I just keep the same one.”Some players even take ribbing about whether they’ll need a glove. Two days ago, when Pearce, mainly known for his bat after Boston made him a midseason acquisition last year, headed out to take BP on a back field Jaime Garcia Jersey , a member of the team’s staff kidded him about not having a glove with him.“It’s spring training,” the staffer yelled. “Did you bring your glove? You having it shipped?”David Price, a 2012 Cy Young Award winner when he was with Tampa Bay, didn’t seem to care about the previous year’s success when choosing to go new or old, but did say he’d be quick to change if things don’t go well.“I’ve got an old glove, but I’ve got a new one that I’ll start breaking in,” he said, sitting at his locker in a nearly empty clubhouse.“If I’m winning and throwing the ball well, I’m not going to switch gloves. If I’m not going to win, I’ll switch. I have no problem with it.”Eovaldi made sure he put his glove safely away, too, before racing in to join the Series celebration.“I was running in from the bullpen, so I saved it in a good spot,” he said.NOTES: Sale and Price threw side-by-side on a back field. “They’re locked in,” manager Alex Cora said. “The way they go about their business is impressive. They take pride in what they do and know they set the tempo for us” . Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez worked with left-handed starter Eduardo Rodriguez.