Shohei Ohtani Is Doing Babe Ruth Things

Los Angeles Angels star Shohei Otani isn’t just having an MVP-caliber start to his season. He’s drawing comparisons to arguably the most mythologized baseball player of all-time, Babe Ruth.

Seriously. A CNN headline noted that Otani was the first player since Ruth to start a game at pitcher while also leading Major League Baseball in home runs. Bleacher Report went a step further and just flat-out called Otani the modern Babe Ruth in a headline. 

Ruth spent a number of years as baseball’s home run king before Hank Aaron broke his record for career homers in the 1970s. But Ruth’s power sometimes overshadows a unique aspect of his career – he was also a very good pitcher who had a 94-46 career record on the mound. For decades now, pitchers who hit with even pedestrian amounts of power are considered an oddity in baseball. Ohtani represents such a unique player with his pitching and hitting abilities that the Ruth comparison isn’t even that hyperbolic – sure, Ohtani has had nowhere near Ruth’s career success and longevity, but in terms of skill set, Ruth is the only viable comparison.

Ohtani has started six games this season and is 1-0 with a 2.37 ERA and 45 strikeouts in 30.1 innings pitched. At the plate, he’s hitting .267 with 14 home runs and 33 RBIs. He’s currently still leading MLB in home runs and is only eight away from his career high. He’s hit his 14 home runs in just 43 games this season. He hit 22 in 104 games in his rookie season in 2018.

Despite Ohtani’s brilliance, the Angels are struggling and the team’s futures odds at a pennant or World Series title are struggling even more. They’re fourth in the NL West at 19-25, seven games behind first-place Houston. They’re also 6.5 games out of the Wild Card race. Those struggles, although not Ohtani’s fault, make it hard to make an MVP case for him – it’s rare that MVPs come from struggling teams looking at the history of the award. But Ohtani’s rare dual-threat production does put him firmly in the conversation even understanding that history.

Ohtani is so must-see that even his peers flock to watch him. Fernando Tatis Jr., a major star in his own right, even said that Ohtani is the non-teammate who he enjoys watching the most. Sarah Langs of MLB.com has a great roundup of ridiculous Ohtani stats, including the fact that he’s hit 61 home runs as a Major League player while also striking out 111 batters.

Bleacher Report’s Abbey Mastracco also speculated that Ohtani’s success could start a new trend of more young players pitching and providing offense for teams. “Ohtani could end up starting a trend of teams utilizing more two-way players,” she wrote. “Young players often play on both sides of the ball, especially in college, but they’re often pigeonholed into pitching or hitting around the time they’re drafted. But maybe they don’t have to be.”

The bigger shadow over Ohtani’s play, though, is his injury history. Ohtani won the American League Rookie of the Year award in 2018, but had Tommy John surgery after the season. He played in 2019, but didn’t pitch. He hit 18 home runs that season, but his season once again ended early with a knee injury.

He only pitched in two games in 2020, and was shut down due to elbow soreness. 

That history made the noticeable drop in Ohtani’s velocity this week raise red flags. Ohtani had been throwing around 96 mph for the season, but he was only hitting the low 90s in a start against Cleveland on May 20. Ohtani said that it was nothing to worry about, though, and the Angels echoed that. 

Still, Ohtani is just 26-years-old and is also still adding elements to his game. Angels manager Joe Maddon told USA Today that, “Man, once he really gains even better command of the fastball and we get him stretched out a bit, pitching on a more consistent basis, I could see him going 100 pitches strong.”

Expecting Ohtani to win the MVP award in a season where he’s just trying to re-establish himself as a healthy star is probably unfair. But if he continues to produce at this level, he’s going to be unable to avoid the lofty comparisons to Ruth.