Shohei Ohtani Is Illogical
Before this season, pitching was pretty clearly Shohei Ohtani's secondary talent, and that's not an insult. He was just "also a pitcher" in the same way that Lady Gaga is also an actress or Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is also a writer. In his first two seasons as a Dodger, Ohtani only pitched a total of 47 innings as he recovered from elbow and then shoulder surgery, yet he was still the best baseball player in the world. The fact that he might take the mound every fifth or sixth day when healthy and deliver above-average starts was just icing on top of 50-plus homers and a 1.000+ OPS, and also that one year where he stole 59 bases seemingly just to prove he could.
In his ninth season in MLB, the power hitting is a notch lower than we're used to, but Ohtani remains a spectacular hitter: .301 average, NL-best on-base percentage, 165 OPS+. But this time, in something far beyond a simple return to form since his injury, Ohtani's pitching stats are the ones that truly drop the jaw. Through 10 starts, Ohtani has given up just five earned runs over 61 innings, which is good for a 0.74 ERA to go along with a microscopic 0.787 WHIP. Wednesday's outing against Arizona, which the Dodgers won 7-0, was another display of efficiency. Ohtani went six innings allowing just two hits and one walk. He stranded Gabriel Moreno after a two-out double in the fourth, and on his final pitch he got Corbin Carroll to ground into a double play to escape what qualified for him as a jam. That's all the action to speak of—well, except for the fact that Ohtani also picked up three singles and two walks at the plate. Jeez, man. Take a look at some of the highlights from the D-Backs game:
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