“He is the greatest player in our sport.”
Legend John Smoltz (56), who has a career record of 213 wins, 155 losses, and an ERA of 3.33 in the major leagues, praised Shohei Ohtani (29, LA Angels). Smoltz recently appeared on Justin Verlander’s (Houston Astros) younger brother and baseball analyst Ben Verlander’s podcast ‘Flippin’ Bats’ and spoke about Ohtani as above.
Specifically, Smoltz said, “People will complain that the MVP award is Shohei Ohtani, but I think he is definitely the MVP. It’s just the nature of the beast. He’s doing something we’ve never seen before. “I think he is the greatest athlete in our sport.”
According to SportsKida, which reported this comment on the 26th (Korean time), Smoltz believed that Ohtani was not simply the best superstar in the major leagues, but the best of all current sports players. Ohtani ended his season slightly early due to elbow and side injuries. The expiration of his contract with the LA Angels is imminent.토토사이트
He played in 135 games as a hitter this season, recording 151 hits in 497 at-bats, a batting average of 0.304, 44 home runs, 95 RBI, 102 runs, 20 stolen bases, a slugging percentage of 0.654, an on-base percentage of 0.412, and an OPS of 1.066. As a pitcher, he went 10-5 in 23 games, with an ERA of 3.14, a hitting percentage of 0.184, WHIP of 1.06, and 167 strikeouts in 132 innings.
Although he ended the season early, he is still at the top of the American League in all batting categories. As of the 25th, he is 1st in home runs, slugging percentage, on-base percentage, OPS, 3rd in batting average, runs scored, and tied for 9th in RBI. As a pitcher, if he has completed the required number of innings, he ranks first in hitting percentage, tied for third in WHIP, and fourth in earned run average.
In 2021, it is certain that he will be the unanimous MVP for the first time in two years. SportsKida even said, “If Aaron Judge (New York Yankees) had not literally made history by setting a single-season home run record with 62 home runs (the American League and Yankees single-season record), Ohtani would have received the nod for the second year in a row.” . If so, the assumption is that he will be the American League MVP three times in a row until this year.
In fact, Ohtani performed well as a batter in 157 games in the 2022 season, with 160 hits in 586 at-bats, a batting average of 0.273, 34 home runs, 95 RBIs, 90 runs, a slugging percentage of 0.519, an on-base percentage of 0.356, and an OPS of 0.875. Although he fell slightly short of his 2021 records, which earned him his first MVP award, he was not short of the award. He also performed well as a pitcher with 15 wins, 9 losses, and an ERA of 2.33 in 28 games.
Otani has returned to Japan after undergoing elbow surgery. Once the postseason is over, he emerges as a main character. It is certain that a contract worth at least 500 to 600 million won will be signed in the 2023-2024 free agent market. Meanwhile, there is a high possibility that he will make major league history as the second unanimous MVP.