Nicknamed “Sho-Time,” Los Angeles Dodgers two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani has his act together this year and is putting on a performance for the ages.
The 30-year-old designated hitter is focused purely on offense as he works his way back from a second Tommy John surgery on his right elbow and should be back on mounds across Major League Baseball next season.
In the meantime, a lack of pitching duty has him taking advantage of the extra time to attack teams in a major way, and the conversation about him winning his third Most Valuable Player award is real.
Ohtani leads the National League in home runs, with 29 after hitting career No. 200 in the fifth inning of an 11-9 shocking 10-inning loss in the Tigers on Saturday in Detroit. The solo blast to open the frame made him the first Japanese-born player to reach that figure in longballs in the major leagues. It was also his 56th extra-base hit, moving him past Dodgers legend Duke Snyder for the most in that category before the All-Star break in club history.
Ohtani, who hit 48 longballs in Japan before his jump to MLB, is leading the NL in many important offensive categories through Saturday’s action. The numbers include his .314 average, 29 homers, OPS (on-base percentage plus slugging) of 1,036 and 5.4 WAR (wins above replacement).
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, who was also born in Japan, lauded Ohtani’s ability to reach the homer milestone in 794 games over six-plus seasons.
“It’s really incredible,” Roberts said during media availability after Saturday’s loss to the Tigers. “The stolen bases, the home runs – he’s really having a tremendous MVP-type of season. Two hundred homers given how short he’s been in the big leagues – a little over six years. And then you take away some of the IL (injured list) time, so how he’s done it so quickly is pretty remarkable,” Roberts said of the offseason free-agent pickup.
And Ohtani, the leader in jersey sales over the first half of the season, is swiping bases the way people swipe away on smartphones. Ohtani has 23—after stealing 20 bases all of last season—and is well on his way to breaking his career high of 26 with the Los Angeles Angels in 2021.
Ohtani, a two-time unanimous American League MVP in 2021 and 2023, needs a consistent second half of the season to break personal bests in OPS, homers, doubles, runs and stolen bases, and jump to the front of the line in NL MVP consideration—if enough voters opt for a full-time DH.
Part of the reason for the Japanese star’s surge this season has been rest, since he doesn’t have to take the hill.
“With the Angels, it was a heavy load and more workload on the body,” Dodgers Spanish and English radio broadcaster Jose Mota told The Epoch Times in an email.
“There was pitching conditioning, arm conditioning, bullpens, meetings with catchers/pitching coaches and so on. The DH-only situation takes a lot off of his plate, but he still has more to do than any other DH in baseball,” said Mota, who is also an MLB Network analyst during the World Baseball Classic and occasionally does English TV commentary for the Dodgers.
“Inside and outside, he has to stay on top of his arm rehabilitation, throwing program, stretching and post-rehab care. It definitely saves him time, saves his energy – compared to when he does both – and he has used that well to his advantage as a hitter with extra work, video analysis and scouting pitchers.
“Beyond all of that, the post-pitching-day soreness and recovery with body, arm and the legs has kept him fresher,” said Mota, who was with the Angels when Ohtani joined the club in 2016 and moved over to Dodgers broadcasts in 2022.
The fresh legs have brought a new approach, with Ohtani quietly on a career-high pace for walks. That might either show more patience on his part or some hesitation on the part of pitchers to attack him in the zone. Whichever is true, if not both, Ohtani is also scoring runs at a personal-record clip because he’s on base so much in a potent lineup.
Ohtani was expected to do great things when he left the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters of the Pacific League to join the Angels. But his two-way accomplishments immediately sent historians cyber-rummaging through databases to drag up some of baseball’s dustiest achievements for comparisons, and Ohtani hasn’t stopped attacking the record books since.
The name Babe Ruth was the closest to Ohtani baseball observers had seen in about 100 years, but he quickly outpaced anything the Sultan of Swat had accomplished as a pitcher, so the comps soon became meaningless. In fact, Ohtani has left many shaking their heads in awe.
“He has exceeded my expectations in every aspect because he has utilized every tool that he’s been blessed with to make himself the biggest attraction in baseball in the WORLD,” Mota said.
“Power, speed, hitting wisdom, power, clutch hitting, and the joy with which he plays are unmatched in the baseball world. I’d say that 50 home runs are never out of the question – he hit 44 last season and missed practically an entire month. His impressive exit velocities and distances are all accomplished with the smoothest effort, a swing so natural and under control.”
Right now, though, the Dodgers could use his arm. The rotation has suffered numerous injuries and ineffective young pitchers have not performed well enough. Still, the Dodgers are comfortably ahead of the second-place San Diego Padres.
Ohtani said his reason for making the jump to the Dodgers was to win a championship, and he will likely have the opportunity to put on a one-man show when the playoffs come around.
