Is Mookie Betts or Shohei Ohtani the better athlete? Dodgers teammates weigh in

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In one corner, standing 6-foot-3 and weighing 210 pounds, is Shohei Ohtani, hitter, pitcher and three-time unanimous MVP.

In the other corner, standing 5-10 and weighing 175 pounds when fully nourished, is Mookie Betts, outfielder, infielder and one-time MVP.

Which Los Angeles Dodgers superstar is the better athlete?

The Athletic posed the question to numerous Dodgers in recent weeks.

“Oh man,” infielder/outfielder Tommy Edman said.

“Oh God,” pitcher Tyler Glasnow said.

“That’s a tough one,” third base coach Dino Ebel said.

The beauty of the question is that even as baseball players, Ohtani and Betts are so different.

Ohtani doesn’t play infield or outfield. Betts doesn’t pitch.

Ohtani is stronger, with a career slugging percentage 50 points higher, and faster, with a sprint speed that ranked in the 70th percentile last season, compared to Betts in the 31st percentile (Surprisingly, the New York Yankees’ 220-pound catcher, Austin Wells, and San Diego Padres’ 235-pound first baseman/outfielder, Gavin Sheets, were among the players who had the same average sprint speed as Betts).

Shohei Ohtani grips a football while at a Los Angeles Rams game with agent Nez Balelo in December 2023. (Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)

As a pitcher, Ohtani’s career strikeout rate is 31.2 percent; Chris Sale led the majors last season at 32.1 percent. Last season, while unable to pitch during his recovery from major elbow surgery, all Ohtani did was become the first player in AL/NL history to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases in a single season.

The latter total was helped by rules Major League Baseball introduced in 2022 to make it easier for players to steal bases. Even then, Betts has made it to 30-30 once – in 2018, his MVP season with the Boston Red Sox.

No matter. In our informal poll, Betts was the clear winner. Dodgers’ utility man Chris Taylor called him, “one of the greatest athletes I’ve ever played with, if not the greatest.”

What about Ohtani?

“I’ve never seen Shohei play other sports,” Taylor said. “Mookie, pretty much anything that guy does, he’s a natural at. You can pretty much put him on any field or sport and he can thrive at it.”

Ebel, Edman, Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman and third baseman Max Muncy also leaned toward Betts, all citing his ability to excel at numerous sports.

“Sho might do some stuff that’s a little more unbelievable,” Muncy said. “But I think overall athlete, I have to give it to Mook.”

To understand the case for Betts, you can’t simply look at the back of his baseball card.  Perhaps Topps should make him part of a different collection: “Multi-sport freaks.” There wouldn’t be many cards in the set.

Playing basketball for John Overton High in Nashville, Betts was the Class AAA All-City Player of the Year. As a bowler, he has rolled numerous perfect games, including one at the 2017 World Series of Bowling. In golf, he has competed in the Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Freeman said he has seen Betts run routes like a wide receiver. And Betts’ latest passion is pickleball, which last September he called “my jam.”

Ohtani? He swam competitively at Hanamaki Higashi High. His baseball coach there said he was fast enough to represent Japan in the Olympics. But his Dodgers teammates said the only sport they have seen him play is baseball.

“It depends how you want to define athleticism,” Dodgers catcher Will Smith said. “Just pure athleticism, probably Shohei. But, hand-eye coordination and playing other sports, probably Mookie.”

Glasnow, too, found it difficult to draw a distinction.

“I think if you define being athletic as picking up whatever sport and being good at it, I’d say Mookie,” Glasnow said. “But Shohei just has the freakish ability to be dominant. So it’s hard. It’s kind of a mixed bag answer.”

Dodgers right fielder Teoscar Hernández didn’t see the question as particularly complicated, saying Ohtani is the better athlete, “just because he can pitch.” Then again, perhaps no other player in baseball could win six Gold Gloves in right field, then become an everyday shortstop the way Betts has the past two seasons.

Manager Dave Roberts was another who chose Betts because of his multi-sport prowess. But then Roberts made an interesting point. If the two were competing in a decathlon – the Olympic event considered the best overall measure of athletic ability – he would take Ohtani.

Think about it. Ohtani probably would win all the running events – the 100 meters, 400, 1,500 and 110-meter hurdles. He also would win the strength events –the shot put, discus and javelin. That leaves the long jump, high jump and pole vault. Would you bet against Ohtani in any of those?

Maybe not. But for the final vote, let’s hear who Betts thinks is the better athlete.

“Me,” he said. “Not even close.”

Why?

“If we’re talking about does he run fast, does he jump high and stuff, Shohei would win that,” Betts continued. “But, as far as like, pure coordination skills, I don’t think it’s remotely close. I feel like it’s just what I do. It’s just what God blessed me with.”

Betts nodded when informed that most of the Dodgers picked him, marveling not just at his ability to move from position to position, but also sport to sport.

“Like I said, that’s kind of what God blessed me with,” Betts said. “That’s the reason why I can move and play kind of any position. If you can play any sport and understand how your body moves, you should be able to put it in decent spots to be successful, no matter where you are on the field.”

Ohtani was not available for comment, but it’s doubtful anything he said would have altered the conversation. Besides, is it really even a competition? If Ohtani can’t beat out Betts for Best Athlete on the Dodgers, he gladly would settle for the only title that seems to matter to him:

Greatest Baseball Player Who Ever Lived.

-The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya contributed to this story
(Top photo of Betts and Ohtani: Harry How/Getty Images)

This news was originally published on this post .

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