Confession: I have not seen Shohei Ohtani play baseball in 2021. Not one swing, not one pitch, not one stride nor spit nor scratch. "Nanimonai," which is Japanese for nothing.
And I call myself a sports writer.
His games are too late, his team isn’t very good. Next to the Texas Rangers, there is no more nondescript franchise in the game than the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. The team’s logo is a guy, shrugging.
Doc, Shohei Ohtani is Babe Ruth.
I didn’t see him, either.
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Baseball has problems, yes, but none bigger than the astounding and inexplicable fact that Sho Time isn’t as big as LeBron or Tom Brady. We put the one-month-in-17-years infestation of insects on the front page. We note this year’s storm of the century, but not a ballplayer who’s doing what just one other player in history has done, and doing it just as well.
That speaks to where the national passion lies more clearly than anything. Baseball has needed larger-than-life since Mark McGwire. Here he is … and here are folks such as I who haven’t seen him play a minute.
“Ohtani is hitting like Willie Mays and pitching like Roger Clemens at the same point in their careers,’’ Tom Verducci wrote on SI.com.
I’m sorry.
What?
“He’s the best baseball player I’ve ever seen in my life,’’ CC Sabathia offered not long ago.
Right now, Ohtani is a better strikeout pitcher than Clayton Kershaw, a more successful base stealer than Ronald Acuna and has more homers than anyone you can name. Baseball has numbers for almost everything, but not for Ridiculous or Stupid Good; otherwise, Ohtani would be leading those categories, too.
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We’ll try not to dull you with numbers, but a few stand out:
He has slugged eight more extra-base hits than he has allowed while pitching.
He’s the only player ever to hit 30 homers (he had 32 entering the weekend) and make 10 pitching starts in one season. He did it in 81 games.
He leads the majors in bunt hits (4).
Thirty-two homers in 81 games, 15 in his last 20 games, an OPS+ of 176. All you need to know about that stat is, only two players are better at it: Vlad Guerrero Jr. and Fernando Tatis Jr.
Ohtani has hit a baseball 470 feet this year. He has 12 stolen bases. He’s the only player ever to steal 10 bases, hit 10 homers and make 10 pitching starts in one year.
He’s doing all this at a time when players are better than ever. Did you know that average fastball velocity has increased between 4 and 5 miles an hour just since Barry Bonds broke the single-season home run record?
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Four or five years ago, there was only one generational, everyday hitter: Mike Trout. Every fan would pay to see him play. Every fan would not be in the bathroom or the beer line when he approached the plate. Before Trout, there were Bonds and Ken Griffey Jr.
Now, there are at least three players who fit the description: Acuna, Guerrero and Tatis. And Ohtani, whose historic and unsurpassed versatility makes him the best of the best. He stretches the boundaries of what is possible. Only a few athletes in any sport have done that.
Ruth did it, but not like this. His two-wayness was history in 1919, 16 seasons before his career ended. Ruth pitched a total of 13 innings after ‘19, even as he had led the American League in ERA and shutouts in 1916. It was only in ’18 and ’19 that Ruth really did both.
It has been more than a century since we’ve used another player’s name in the same context. It might be another century until we do it again.
Ohtani was voted an All-Star as both a pitcher and hitter. He’ll appear in the Home Run Derby Monday night, in Coors Field, attacking baseballs that have not been neutered by a humidor.
He’ll be appointment viewing. He should have been already.
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