ANAHEIM, Calif. — Before Shohei Ohtani stepped into the brilliant lights of Hollywood and signed essentially the most profitable contract in skilled sports activities historical past, baseball’s two-way celebrity put collectively yet one more season of unparalleled brilliance from Tokyo to Anaheim.
What can this singular expertise presumably do subsequent? The Los Angeles Dodgers are eagerly paying $700 million to see for themselves.
But what Ohtani already did in 2023 – each for the Los Angeles Angels and for Japan‘s team in the World Baseball Classic – is the reason he was selected as The Associated Press’ Male Athlete of the Year for the second time in three years.
“Shohei is arguably the most talented player who’s ever played this game,” stated Andrew Friedman, the Dodgers’ president of baseball operations, after signing Ohtani to a 10-year contract final week.
Ohtani edged Inter Miami celebrity Lionel Messi and tennis nice Novak Djokovic for the AP honor in voting by a panel of sports activities media professionals.
Ohtani obtained 20 of 87 votes, whereas Messi and Djokovic bought 16 apiece. Nikola Jokic, the Denver Nuggets’ NBA Finals MVP, bought 12 votes.
After successful his first AP Male Athlete of the Year award in 2021, Ohtani has joined a formidable record of two-time winners of the respect, which was first handed out in 1931.
Multiple-time winners embody Don Budge, Byron Nelson, Carl Lewis, Joe Montana, Michael Jordan, Michael Phelps and four-time honorees Tiger Woods and Lance Armstrong. Four-time winner LeBron James is one other generational celebrity who selected Los Angeles as a free agent, whereas two-time honoree Sandy Koufax stays one of many biggest gamers to put on Dodger Blue.
Ohtani has upended many years of standard knowledge throughout his six years within the majors, even surpassing most achievements of Babe Ruth whereas enjoying in an infinitely harder period. Most new frontiers in sports activities are crossed incrementally and regularly, however Ohtani has toppled limitations that stood for a century with peerless expertise, confidence and onerous work.
Ohtani unanimously gained the AL MVP award in 2021, and he repeated the feat in 2023 after ending second in 2022 to Yankees slugger Aaron Judge, final 12 months’s AP Male Athlete of the Year.
This 12 months started with Ohtani‘s dazzling MVP performance for Japan‘s championship team in the World Baseball Classic – complete with a clinching strikeout of Angels teammate Mike Trout. He then turned in his third consecutive spectacular season both on the mound and at the plate in Anaheim despite an early end after he injured his pitching elbow in August.
Ohtani led the AL with 44 homers, 78 extra-base hits, 325 total bases and a 1.066 OPS as the Halos’ designated hitter. He additionally held hitters to an AL-best .184 batting common whereas rating second within the league with 11.39 strikeouts per 9 innings and third with a 3.14 ERA on the time of his harm.
“There’s nobody like him, and there’s nothing that you would say he can’t do,” former Angels supervisor Phil Nevin stated late within the season. “Anything is possible with Sho. I don’t know who else you could say that about in baseball history.”
Ohtani left Japan in late 2017 to pursue his desires at his sport’s highest stage, and his exploits are adopted in microscopic element by his followers in his homeland. When he bought his first likelihood to play for Japan within the World Baseball Classic final spring, Ohtani seized the second with each arms.
Ohtani was excellent in Japan‘s games in Tokyo and Miami, batting .435 with four doubles and a homer despite getting walked 10 times. He also pitched 9 2/3 innings, racking up 11 strikeouts with a 1.86 ERA.
The championship game ended in storybook fashion with Ohtani striking out Trout, the three-time AL MVP and Ohtani‘s longtime Angels teammate, for the final out in Japan‘s victory over the U.S.
Ohtani then turned in another outstanding, unique season with the Angels before he hurt his elbow and eventually had a second surgery that will almost certainly prevent him from pitching in 2024, just as he missed nearly all of 2019 and 2020 as a pitcher.
His injury history did nothing to suppress his free-agent value, partly because Ohtani can remain one of the majors’ greatest hitters whereas he waits to see if his pitching elbow will heal once more.
“One of the many things we’ve come to appreciate over the years about Shohei is watching him never take a pitch off, no matter the score of the game,” Friedman stated. “I’ve seen him in games where his team is up big or down big, grinding each pitch late in an at-bat – hustling, doing everything he can to leg out an infield hit late in a game.”
While Ohtani has redefined what’s attainable in trendy baseball, he achieved one other unprecedented feat by signing his record-setting contract. The deep-pocketed Dodgers eagerly invested within the 29-year-old Ohtani’s subsequent decade whereas realizing his worldwide fame generates income no different baseball participant can contact.
“I’m still in the pinch-me phase, to be honest,” Dodgers supervisor Dave Roberts stated. “Can’t believe we’re going to have the opportunity to have him wear a Dodger uniform. One of the most talented players ever to put on a baseball uniform is now a Dodger.”
Ohtani did almost the whole lot besides win with the Angels, who haven’t had a successful season since 2015. When he hit free company this winter, he finally selected the close by membership that has had solely two dropping seasons within the twenty first century, none since 2010.
The Dodgers gained the aggressive competitors for Ohtani‘s services by offering that gargantuan – and structurally creative – contract, but also a supportive environment on the West Coast, supremely talented teammates and the resources to get more – along with a winning culture around a team that has made 11 consecutive playoff appearances.
“I can’t wait to affix the Dodgers,” Ohtani stated by his translator, Ippei Mizuhara. “They share the same passion as me. They have a vision and history all about winning. I share the same values.”
