Just when you think Shohei Ohtani can’t top himself with his baseball exploits, he proves otherwise. The reigning Most Valuable Player has taken his game to another level after taking his talents from the Angels to the Dodgers.
The 2023 Major League Baseball season saw Ohtani become the first player in league history to win the MVP award by unanimous vote twice after he did so in 2021.
Thus, given his past accomplishments and the microscope that he is under—not only the historic contract but also being the face of one of the most prestigious sports franchises in the world—many would not have been surprised if Ohtani got off to a slow start in Dodger Blue. However, he’s managed to produce even better than ever before through his first 35 games with his new club.
After cracking two home runs on Sunday, Ohtani now leads the National League in homers (10), doubles (14), hits (52), total bases (98), batting average (.364), slugging percentage (.685) and OPS (1.111). His entire slash line is better than either of his MVP seasons, he’s on pace for career-highs in runs, RBI and hits, and if that wasn’t enough, he’s a perfect 7-for-7 in stolen base attempts.
To put those numbers into context, Ohtani isn’t just off to the best start of his career, but he’s on par with the best starts in the history of MLB. His 25 extra-base hits through his first 35 games with a team trail just one other player over the last 100 years of MLB. That player is Yankees great Joe DiMaggio, who had 27 extra-base hits through his first 35 games with New York as a rookie way back in 1936.
Elbow Surgery
Ohtani is managing to do all of this despite undergoing elbow surgery in September, which is putting the pitching half of his two-way superstardom on hold until 2025.As anyone who’s been operated on knows, with surgery comes a loss of strength and power, but you wouldn’t be able to tell when doing a deep dive into Ohtani’s advanced metrics.
His exit velocity (EV), which is the speed of the baseball as it comes off the bat, is a career-high of 94.5 mph on average, while his maximum EV of 119.2 m.p.h. is 1.6 mph faster than any other player this season.
Ohtani’s brilliance, along with the equally amazing season from Mookie Betts, has the Dodgers atop the National League West, and the former is also bringing some levity to the Dodgers’ clubhouse. After passing his manager, Dave Roberts, over the weekend for the most homers in Dodgers’ history by a Japanese-born player, the player with the $700 million contract gifted his manager with a purple toy model Porsche for his office.
The backstory behind the meaning of the car is that when Ohtani signed with the Dodgers in December, his No. 17 was already taken by pitcher Joe Kelly. As a result of the relief pitcher giving up his number to Ohtani and switching to No. 99, Ohtani gifted an actual Porsche to Kelly’s wife, Ashley, who had started a social media campaign to help recruit Ohtani to the Dodgers, with the promise that Joe would give up his No. 17 if the two-time MVP signed with the team.
Ohtani surpassed Hideki Matsui for most home runs by a Japanese-born player in MLB history (175) earlier this season.
There could be even an additional opportunity on the horizon for Ohtani to showcase his otherworldly talents. While the elbow surgery will keep him off the mound until next year, that doesn’t mean that Ohtani can’t throw a baseball from other parts of the diamond. He’s in the midst of an every-other-day throwing program to strengthen the elbow, which includes throws off flat ground.
If all goes well, Ohtani could be able to play the field at some point during the 2024 MLB season. During Spring Training, he had a pair of gloves delivered to his locker room—one was an outfielder’s glove, and the other was a first baseman’s mitt.
Bryce Harper underwent a similar operation in Nov. 2022 and was able to man first base just eight months later in July 2023. Meanwhile, Ohtani did play 64 games as an outfielder when he began his career in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), and he did log seven games in the outfield early in his career with the Angels.
