Shohei Ohtani has been amazing baseball fans in the United States for nine years. He continues to do things no one has seen before (unless there is someone out there who watched Babe Ruth consistently hit and pitch a mere 108 years ago).
One season, when he wasn’t pitching, the Japanese sensation decided he would steal more bases. So, he stole 59. And did that while hitting 50 home runs (54, in fact). On the day he became the inaugural member of the 50/50 club, he went 6-for-6 with three dingers, 10 RBI, and two stolen bases. Alas, he did not pitch in that game.
He is the first player to win the MVP award in both the American and National Leagues since Frank Robinson did so 60 years ago (first with the Reds in 1961, and then with the Orioles in 1966). But Robinson never won multiple MVPs in both leagues, which Ohtani has done.
He has won three consecutive MVPs, and in four out of the last five years. He is only one of two players to win at least four MVPs, but he is the only one to win them all unanimously.
In the pennant-winning game against the Brewers last season, all Ohtani did was throw six shutout innings and club three home runs (one clear out of Dodger Stadium).
The two-way star has played for the Dodgers for two years and won two MVPs and two World Series titles. What else is there for this unicorn to accomplish?
Well, this year Ohtani hinted that he wanted to win the Cy Young Award, one honor that has evaded him to this point. In fact, he has taken to not hitting on certain pitching days to allow him to focus more on his mound work. However, on May 20th, he did both, hit a leadoff homer and then threw five scoreless innings against the Padres. A week later, he did both, again hit a leadoff homer, and then threw six hitless innings against the Rockies.
One concern about a potential Cy Young is that he may not accrue the requisite 162 innings pitched to qualify for the award. Well, so far this season he has started ten games and thrown 61 innings, putting him pretty close to on-pace. He has gone at least six innings in every start except the above-referenced May 20th game against San Diego, the one in which he was on base twice and scored two runs (one courtesy of his own dinger).
Last night in Arizona, Ohtani went for 3-for-4 at the plate and walked twice. He pitched six shutout innings, allowing just two hits and yielding one walk. Said differently, as a hitter got on base five times; and as a pitcher, only three Diamondbacks reached base.
With last night’s performance, Ohtani reduced his season ERA to 0.74. Per Jeff Passan of ESPN, that is the third lowest ERA through ten starts in MLB history (Jacob deGrom, 2021: 0.56; Juan Marichal, 1966: 0.59).
But wait, there is more. With those three hits, he upped his slash line for the season to .301/.420/.521 (hitters are slashing .144/.224/.211 against him). That on base percentage leads the league. His OPS+ is currently sitting at 165. Since May 12th, he is hitting .438 with eleven extra base-hits, and a 1.287 OPS.
Will Ohtani pitch enough innings to qualify for the Cy Young Award? Will he continue this hot hitting into the summer? Who’s to say? Well, over his career, July and August are his worst hitting months (and that means .904 and .903 OPS, respectively), but September is his second-best hitting month (.973 OPS). Over his 110 games as a major league pitcher, his second half ERA is 2.73 vs. 2.63 in the first half, so don’t expect much drop off. Even if Ohtani regresses to mere superhuman the rest of the way, he can expect his fifth MVP award, and probably another unanimous selection. And, if he can stay healthy and keep accruing innings, he may become the first player since fellow Dodger Clayton Kershaw to win both the MVP and the Cy Young.
We should all appreciate what we are witnessing every time Shohei Ohtani takes the field, because, as Will Smith said after last night’s game: “He’s the best player that’s ever walked this earth.”