When the Los Angeles Dodgers made mega-star Shohei Ohtani the highest-paid player in MLB history, they knew that the majority of his first year would be only as a DH. Even without his pitching excellence on display yet for the Dodgers, he’s rising to expectations that come with a mammoth $700 million contract from the batter’s box.
“He’s the best player ever,” said Walker Buehler, Ohtani’s teammate after Monday’s 6-3 win over the MiamiMarlins where Ohtani hit another home run. “We gave him twice as much money as anyone has ever made in this game and he keeps proving why we did that.”
Walker Buehler on Shohei Ohtani:
“He’s the best player ever. We gave him twice as much money as anyone has ever made in this game, and he keeps proving why we did that. He’s incredible.” pic.twitter.com/HWVche8eCE
— Doug McKain (@DMAC_LA) May 7, 2024
Name a Statistic Shohei Ohtani is Leading the League In
Ohtani’s ten-year deal puts him making nearly $12 million a month. Through the first month on the contract, Ohtani is leading the league in hits, home runs, doubles, batting average, slugging percentage, and OPS. He’s second in on-base percentage only to teammate Mookie Betts. His .370/.434/.705 slash line has been stunning. Per Sarah Langs, Ohtani’s 25 extra-base hits are the most in a player’s first 35 games with the Dodgers since at least 1901. On a team that specializes in signing stars, Shohei is shining the brightest.
“I don’t even remember him being this good in Anaheim,” said Clayton Kershaw during Monday night’s Dodger broadcast of the game. “You look up and you watch the highlights, but I don’t remember him ever being on this kind of tear. This is unbelievable. Every ball that he hits, he’s just so strong I don’t get it, I don’t think anybody does how he does it. It’s just amazing.”
Advanced Stat Juggernaut
The ball is jumping off of Ohtani’s bat in 2024. He’s leading the league in hard-hit percentage, with balls coming off his bat 95 mph or greater 60.9 percent of the time. The hardest-hit ball in MLB this season belongs to Ohtani as well, as he’s topped out at 119.2 mph off the bat. On average, he’s hitting balls 94.5 mph, the fourth-best in the League.
He’s finding the barrel of his bat 24.3 percent of the time, while no other player inMLB is above 20 percent in that metric according to Baseball Savant. 46 percent of the time Ohtani is finding the sweet spot on his swings – an optimal launch angle – which is the seventh-highest rate in the league. Ohtani is above league average in lowest strikeout rate and highest walk rate as well.
Best Hitting Start of His Career
This is the best first month of the season Ohtani has had yet in the MLB from behind the plate. Through May he had more hits, doubles, RBIs, Walks, runs and total bases than at this point in any of his six MLB seasons. His slugging percentage is also higher than at any point through a month of any of his seasons. His batting average is second to only his first season in the MLB, where he had a much smaller sample size of 12 games through the end of April. Part of his hitting success may be that he is just focusing on batting right now as he rehabs an elbow injury and isn’t pitching.
Shohei has been mashing at an unprecedented rate to start his @Dodgers career. 🤯 pic.twitter.com/2auP4lnOoU
— MLB (@MLB) May 5, 2024
“I do miss pitching, but on days I start it’s a little bit nerve-wracking so it’s nice to be able to focus on hitting right now,” Ohtani told MLB Network last week through an interpreter.
Main Photo: © Kiyoshi Mio-USA TODAY Sports
