Ohtani Shohei (29‧LA Angels) is making another historic season. Since 2021, Ohtani, who has started a full-fledged pitching and hitting combination, continues to make a big success in both pitching and hitting as if this year is the complete body of this cartoon-like baseball.
In 2021, when the aftermath of his elbow surgery was completely shaken off and the seal on the double job of pitching and hitting was lifted, his performance as a hitter stood out a little more. Ohtani was named the American League Unanimous Most Valuable Player (MVP) with a batting average of 0.257, 46 home runs, 100 RBIs, and an OPS (on-base percentage + slugging percentage) of 0.965 in 155 games in 2021. As a pitcher, he went 9-2 with an earned run average of 3.18. However, he only pitched 130⅓ innings in 23 games, well short of regulation innings (162).
2022 was a bit the opposite. Rather, it was evaluated that he stood out more as a pitcher. Ohtani succeeded in digesting the first individual regular innings (166 innings) in 2022, and made an outstanding performance with an average ERA of 2.33 with 15 wins and 9 losses. He was a Cy Young video candidate just by looking at it as a pitcher, and he came in fourth in the actual American League Cy Young video poll.
However, his production as a hitter has fallen from 2021. Last year, Ohtani played 157 games healthy, but had a batting average of 0.273, 34 homers, 95 RBIs, and an OPS of 0.875. This was also an all-star performance, but not only in 2021, and in the end, Aaron Judge (New York Yankees), who had a historic home run pace, had to watch the MVP.
But this year is different. Ohtani is doing well both as a pitcher and as a hitter. He went 10-5 with a 3.17 earned run average in 22 games as a pitcher. He has already struck out 165 batters in 130⅔ innings pitched. Both innings and strikeouts are at a pace that can record more than last year. As a hitter, he has a batting average of 0.305, 40 home runs, 83 RBIs, and an OPS of 1.071 in 115 games. He is evaluated as being able to challenge MVP with just one hitter.
In fact, Ohtani leads the American League in home runs, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, and OPS. He is also attracting attention with a batting average of 30, which he has never achieved. Although his home run pace has slowed down a bit recently, his strength is still there. On the 13th (Korean time), he showed off this power in the game against Houston.토토사이트
On this day, Ohtani, who played as the designated hitter for the second start, recorded 1 hit and 1 run in 4 at-bats. He had a somewhat disappointing performance, but one hit was impressive. It was a bullet hit. He hit a double that hit the fence in the 6th inning, and this exit velocity reached a whopping 118.3 miles (190.4 km). It was the second fastest batted hit he had tallied all season. It was a tremendous hit that went all the way to the fence before the exclamations of fans and commentators were over. If the launch angle was a little higher, it could have been a home run.
Matt Olsen (Atlanta), who was the National League’s “representative” in the entire major league home run race, is leading, but at least in the American League, no candidate to catch up to Ohtani has emerged. This is why Ohtani, who is achieving balanced results in both pitches and hits, is expected to become the second unanimous MVP following 2021. No player in major league history has been unanimously voted MVP twice. Ohtani is poised to write a new history.
Even if Ohtani is out of the season in the current situation, there are opinions that there are not enough players to catch up with Ohtani in the win contribution ratio (WAR) compared to substitute players combined with pitches and other players. Based on ‘Baseball Reference’ standards, Ohtani has a 5.5 WAR as a hitter and a 3.5 as a pitcher. The total is already 9.0. A WAR of 9 is enough for most players to be named MVP.
Ohtani’s big success has also created something unusual in the betting industry. Even though the season was not over yet, Ohtani’s MVP award was ‘declared’. This is unprecedented in MLB history.
Usually, the betting industry releases an ‘MVP prediction product’ before the season. Dividends are set for each MVP candidate to attract the attention of bettors. This MVP dividend is continuously adjusted according to the performance of the season. And it is a structure in which dividends are paid according to the actual MVP winners after the season. It is a representative outright product that is released after a year.
However, since Ohtani’s winning the prize was already certain, some companies stopped selling altogether and paid dividends to those who bet on Ohtani. Sports bookmaker ‘Point Bet’ is that company. ‘Point Bet’ declared Ohtani’s MVP award and decided not to sell this product anymore. At the point when Ohtani was not traded to the National League, there are many eyes that the MVP vote has already ended. You can feel the greatness of Ohtani.