Shohei Ohtani (29, LA Angels) is getting farther and farther away from the MVP race despite his outstanding batting performance.토토사이트
On the 10th (Korean time), Ohtani played as a starting pitcher and second batter in the 2023 Major League home game held at Angel Stadium against the Seattle Mariners in Anaheim, California, USA.
He left an impact as a hitter. Ohtani, who made an infield hit with a quick foot in his first at-bat, hit Luis Castillo’s changeup and crossed the middle fence in the third inning, where the Angels trailed 0-2. The 17th gun of the season with a distance of 440 feet (about 134 m). He tied for second in home runs in the American League, catching up with MVP race rival Aaron Judge (New York Yankees) by two with 19.
Ohtani, who quickly completed the game with three hits by adding a double to left field in the bottom of the 5th inning, left a long-awaited record. According to MLB.com, the official website of the Major League Baseball, this is the fourth time Ohtani has had three or more hits in a starting game this year. This is the next record, five times in a season, recorded by Warren Spahn, a Hall of Fame inductee, in the Milwaukee Brewers in 1958.
In the last at-bat, he retired with a ground ball, and as a hitter, he finished with 3 hits in 4 at-bats (1 home run), 2 RBIs and 1 run. As a result, the batting average of 63 games for the season was 0.282, 17 homers, 44 RBIs, and OPS 0.919. The Los Angeles Angels won 5-4 thanks to Ohtani’s performance.
As his excellent sense of hitting is exploding, the remaining span record is also about to be broken.
The problem is that despite these batting results, he is gradually losing his power in the MVP race. I was able to find the reason on the mound that day. ‘Starting pitcher’ Ohtani failed to secure both a quality start and victory with 3 hits (1 home run), 6 walks (5 walks, 1 hit ball), 6 strikeouts and 3 runs in 5 innings.
From the first inning, the lead batter walked, and Jared Kellernick was allowed a two-run four in the middle, and in the 5th inning, the lead batter walked and the ball hit the body, causing a crisis with one company on second and third base. Here, he allowed Thai France to tie the game 3-3 while allowing 1 RBI in the middle of the match. Afterwards, he finished the inning with a double stroke, but because the number of pitches had already reached 97, he was replaced with Ben Joyce and did not become a winning pitcher.
This season, Ohtani has been unable to secure a win due to his sudden search for a ball and allowing long hits out of the blue. With 34 walks in 76 innings, this is the 11th home run allowed. At the same time, the season record was 5 wins and 2 losses in 13 matches with an average ERA of 3.32, falling behind early in the Cy Young Young race.
The reason Ohtani was able to become the unanimous MVP in 2021 was that he had a great two-hit full season, which had not been seen in the 100 years since Babe Ruth. As a hitter in 2021, he recorded a batting average of 0.257, 46 home runs, 100 RBIs, OPS of 0.964, and an average ERA of 3.18 in 23 games as a pitcher. It was meaningful because one person achieved grade A at the same time.
However, this year’s Ohtani has not been able to give more than an A-class impact on the mound. His second MVP possibility is gradually disappearing as he continues to hunt for his first pitch on the mound. What laughs at pitcher Ohtani’s sluggishness is rival Judge, who shows excellent batting performance with a batting average of 0.291, 19 homers, 40 RBIs, and an OPS of 1.078 in 49 games.