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The last time that Shohei Ohtani started a game as a pitcher was August 23, 2023. Still with the Los Angeles Angels at the time, the right-handed two-way star made it through just 1.1 innings against the Cincinnati Reds before he was removed from the game with what ended up being his second torn ulnar collateral ligament. Rather than immediately get surgery, Ohtani waited until after the season for the procedure… and actually played in the second game of the doubleheader against the Reds that same day, going 1-for-5 with a double as a DH.
That sort of oddity is the Ohtani experience, distilled. A player who can finish fourth in the Cy Young and second in the MVP balloting in the same season, as he did in 2022, who can still be one of the most productive players in baseball for the better part of two years while he’s not even doing half of his job.
It’s been some time since Ohtani took the mound, so, with him returning against the San Diego Padres on Monday in the opener role in lieu of a rehab assignment in the minors, let’s look back at just what this unicorn accomplished in the nearly two years since he last pitched in an MLB game.
The unanimous 2023 MVP
Is this one cheating since Ohtani was injured in his second-to-last start in August, so close to the end of the season? It might feel that way, but if losing five weeks of starts and having to “just” be a hitter before that part of his season ended early, too, further emphasized how ridiculously good he had been. Ohtani managed to be worth 10 wins above replacement according to Baseball Reference, and 8.9 by FanGraphs, despite the lost time. No one — not Corey Seager, not Marcus Semien — was close to those numbers in full seasons, and Ohtani was awarded the second MVP of his career unanimously because of it.
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Shohei Ohtani’s last trip to the mound in an MLB game was back in August 2023. He’d still win the AL MVP that season. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images) <!–>
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The biggest contract in pro sports
Ohtani might have had his second Tommy John surgery on October 1, 2023, but that didn’t slow his offseason one bit. Despite knowing that he wouldn’t be a pitcher for at least all of 2024, teams lined up to attempt to court Ohtani — it was the Dodgers that were able to seal the deal in the end, owing to Ohtani’s desire to win combined with their willingness to agree to some non-standard contract conditions. Ohtani’s base deal was an MLB record and the largest in sports, at 10 years and $700 million. Now, almost all of that is deferred — $68 million per season — changing the value of the contract over its life to $438 million, per the Major League Baseball Player Association’s calculations. Still, $438 million would have been the largest in MLB history at that point, as well… just $1.5 million ahead of former teammate, Mike Trout. And still only behind Juan Soto ($765 million) and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. ($500 million), both of which signed since.
The first 50/50 season
What’s a player with the energy to be both an everyday player and a starting pitcher to do when they can’t do the latter? Steal some bases, apparently. That’s what Ohtani decided to do, anyway, and the result was the first-ever 50/50 season: he slugged 54 home runs and stole 59 bases, and was caught all of four times, as well, making him far more efficient at it than the league-leading Elly De La Cruz (67 with a league-most 16 caught stealings).
Just five players in history had ever managed even 40/40, and Ohtani — whose career-high in steals before this was 26, in 2021 — set an entirely new benchmark because he had the stamina and the speed to spare.
Shohei Othani eclipsed the first ever 50/50 mark in terms of homers and stolen bases last season. (Al Diaz/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images) <!–>
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A second unanimous MVP
When Ohtani won the 2023 MVP, it was thanks to a combined effort between his work at the plate and as a pitcher. In 2024, though, he was all bat. The 50/50 season might have been the top highlight, but Ohtani was historically good in other ways, as well. He logged an MLB-leading 411 total bases, tied for the 16th-most in history, and the third-most in the 21st century. Who was Ohtani tied with? None other than Barry Bonds and his 2001 season, in which he hit a record 73 homers. Ohtani had as many total bases as the guy who hit 73 home runs in one year.
He did that by having nearly 100 extra-base hits: Ohtani finished one shy of that figure, which is also more than just a round number. Despite missing the century mark, Ohtani still finished tied for the 16th-most extra-base hits in a season, and the run environment in which he pulled even that off makes his showing exceptional even among these all-time great years.
A World Series championship
Ohtani signed with the Dodgers because they agreed to pay him $700 million, sure, but it’s likely that other teams would have done the same. What was less likely is that any other team would have had the same commitment to winning: the Dodgers, who came in first place in the NL West in 10 of their prior 11 seasons before signing Ohtani, have the most successful, sustained culture of winning in MLB. The bet both sides took has already paid off, with Ohtani helping to the lead the Dodgers to their second World Series championship in four seasons — his first — and all before he ever even took the mound for them.
Shohei Ohtani propelled the Dodgers to the 2024 World Series, the first of his career. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images) <!–>
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Bobblehead homers, big stats, and a fourth MVP?
Ohtani enters Monday night’s action in the midst of a .297/.393/.642 season, in which he’s leading the NL in home runs (25), slugging percentage, OPS+ (189), and total bases (179) while leading the majors in runs scored. He hit a historic walk-off home run on his bobblehead night, and on his second bobblehead night — meant to honor his 50/50 season in 2024 — he went deep twice, giving him a series of numbers that no one had ever managed before through 42 games. He reached 250 career homers this past weekend, with 79 of those coming since he last pitched. He’s leading the NL in wins above replacement, per FanGraphs’ calculations, and could very well be on his way to his third-consecutive MVP award and fourth of his career… without having even pitched in a Dodgers’ uniform yet.
It’s been a while, so just to jog your memory: Ohtani has a 3.01 career ERA as a pitcher, good for a 142 OPS+, and strikes out over 11 batters per nine, even leading the league in that stat (11.9) in 2022. There’s been plenty to watch with him just in the batter’s box, but there is so much more to Ohtani’s game than what he can do with a bat.
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Shohei Ohtani
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