Shohei Ohtani: Perfect baseball player

When Shohei Ohtani signed from the NBP league in Japan as the 2way player as a pitcher and hitter, the player we haven't seen since Babe Ruth. Ohtani was a big signing for the Angels as he picked that team to sign with over a franchise like the New York Yankees. Coming at 23 years old to the MLB with that type of player he was, scouts were doubting him piece by Jeff Passan by Yahoo in 2018 quoted saying, "He's basically like a high school hitter because he's never seen a good curveball," the scout said. "He's seen fastballs and changeups. And you're asking a high school hitter to jump to the major leagues?" These were one of the criticisms and they were proven wrong in the first year.

His rookie year in 2018 would be an injury-riddled season but would still play for what people expected with 22 hr/61 RBI and .925 OPS in 104 games batting and adding to that was a 10-stolen-base season. With his pitching, what we saw out of Babe Ruth was nothing as he was never that good of a pitcher, and that is what makes Ohtani special. That he can succeed in both categories at an elite level. He showed that in his rookie year, as a pitcher he would pitch in 10 games with a 3.31 earned run average, striking out 63 batters in 51.2 innings pitched. This was a really small sample size of what Ohtani as a pitcher would be when he started to get used to the major leagues and adjust to the hitters

More injuries would have him missing time in 2019 which caused the Angels to make the decision to have him only to bat and in 106 games played he would hit 18 home runs with 62 runs batter in with a .848 OPS. This looked like what the scouts were saying that he would have to choose either being a pitcher or a hitter as they have never seen this type of player before and they had their doubts.

The 2020 shortened Covid season was the most forgettable and worst of Shohei's Career, as in 44 of the 60 games he would accumulate a .657 ops with 7 home runs with 24 runs batted in. This was his worst season so far but this only would be a sample size, so it would be hard to call him out for having the worst season of his career. He would really start to show why teams clamored for him when he was a free agent in the 2017-18 offseason, starting with the 2021 season.

In 2021, he won the American League MVP and the Silver Slugger award in the DH position. He won because he showed how elite he was at hitting and pitching. Hitting 46 HR and 100 Runs batted in with a .965 OPS with 9 wins above replacement as a hitter and pitcher, which led the baseball in 2021. As a pitcher, he had a 3.18 era in 23 games that he started and struck out 156 batters in 130. innings pitched. To compare other pitchers like Joe Musgrove from the Padres had a 3.18 era that same season but with 167 innings pitched and 203 strikeouts. This season showed the potential he could show as one of the greatest baseball players to ever play the game.

2022 would be his best season yet as a pitcher, nabbing a 2.33 era, which was 6th in the majors. he struck out 219 batters in 166 innings, when he lead baseball in strikeouts per 9 with 11.9. This showed how good of a pitcher he can be in the majors, it made him the most dominant player in the game. Then on the offense, he stayed the course as an elite hitter with 36 home runs and 95 runs batted in with a .875 OPS in 157 games. 2022 was another elite season but he was 2nd in MVP and 4th in CY Young voting, and the reason was that Aaron Judge on the Yankees had a record-breaking season with the most home runs in American league history passing Roger Maris.

Then on entering the last year of his contract with the Angels, with 98 games played he leads the majors in home runs, OPS, OPS plus, triples, and walks while as a pitcher leading the majors in opponent batting average. All these 2 and half seasons show why he is the most valuable player in the majors.

Now the other story in Ohtani's career has been the franchise built around him, they have never made the playoffs with him and Mike Trout as the duo, also never finishing over .500 and more than 3rd place in the A.L. West. Now that Ohtani is in his last year of arbitration in the Angels, it's gonna be interesting how the Angels deal with most likely his last season as an Angel. He would more likely demand more than 500 mill, as a once-in-a-lifetime player who can have elite play as a pitcher and a hitter. We are looking at a player that we most likely never see again in baseball. That's how special of a player Ohtani is in baseball and all sports.