“Ohtani seems to be playing in his own league. We only did both pitching and hitting during our Little League days, but he is doing it in Major League Baseball.”
Los Angeles Dodgers ‘superstar’ Shohei Ohtani is gradually regaining his original power since returning to the mound.
This season, he has made five appearances, pitching a total of 9 innings with an earned run average of 1.00, and as a batter, he is leading in the National League in home runs (32), slugging percentage (0.382), and OPS (0.987) in every institutional sector.
Nevertheless, Ohtani still does not conceal his strong affection for ‘pitcher Ohtani.’
According to Dodgers specialized media ‘Dodgers Nation’ on the 16th (Korean time), World Series MVP Freddie Freeman said, “Ohtani really loves pitching. He seems to enjoy the feeling of leading the game from the mound. I understand that feeling because I was a pitcher when I was young.”
He went on to say, “Ohtani is almost the best hitter and the best pitcher in Major League Baseball,” adding, “It’s amazing just to see a player like this on the same team.”
Ohtani has recorded a Wins Above Replacement (WPA) of 4.27 for the first half of the season, placing him first in Major League Baseball overall. This is a metric that quantifies the player’s impact based on changes in win probability during games. The second place goes to Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees with a score of 3.39.
Freeman noted, “We only did both pitching and hitting during our Little League days, but Ohtani does it in Major League Baseball. Everyone knows how special that is.”
Currently, Ohtani is working on elevating his physical condition to adapt to the reshuffling of the starting rotation, and he is expected to show all-around performance in both pitching and hitting in the second half of the season.
Meanwhile, Freeman is recording a batting average of .297 (94 hits in 317 at-bats), 10 home runs, 49 runs batted in, 46 runs scored, 1 stolen base, and an OPS of .841 this season.
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