The Ohtani Tsunami

                                                              Over all the years I have been watching baseball, I have seen a lot of players come and go. Not one of them was anything like Shohei Ohtani. I have been blessed in my lifetime to see some great players, Williams, Musial, Clemente, Mays, Mantle, Kaline, Banks, Snider, Hodges, Rose, Bench, Piazza. Icons of the game. Most were very good at more than just one aspect of the game. How players are judged has changed dramatically since I was young. Five tool players are a rarer breed today than they were years ago. 

                                                 Players are bigger and stronger, much more athletic than they used to be. They also after a short break when the season is over, they start working out to stay in shape for the season. Back in the day that was not the case. Spring training was more about getting in shape. Now when spring starts there is more time to work on improving already impressive skills. Ohtani came to the Dodgers with six seasons under his belt with the Angels. He also came with a huge amount of hype. 

                                              To be very honest, I was not sure what to expect. I figured he would hit 40 plus homers. I never expected 54. After all, Shawn Green, Gary Sheffield and Adrian Beltre had all fallen just short of that number. Homers were not something Dodger Stadium was known for, even with all the power the team has shown the last several years. Bellinger got to 47 his MVP season. He has hit over 20 just once since.

                                              I certainly was not expecting him to steal so many bases. I feel that might be a one-time thing.   When he starts pitching again, I have to believe he will steal less since pitchers rely on their lower half so much. Ohtani hit a very respectable .288 against lefties. He hit .322 off of RH and 42 of his homers came off of RH pitching. Ohtani hit .298 on the road, and .328 at home. He hit 28 homers at Dodger Stadium and 26 on the road. I found it a little odd that he drove in more runs, 71, on the road than he did at home, 59. He walked more and struck out less at home. His stolen bases at home, 31, on the road, 28. 

                                                Watching him play every day instead of seeing him only when the Dodgers played the Angels made me appreciate his skills all that much more. I cannot wait to see how he does on the mound and what the lineup will look like on days he pitches. His worst month was August, .235. His best was September, .393. He hit 12 homers in a month twice, June and August, and slugged 10 in September. 6 in July was his lowest. As the first batter in the game, which he did 90 times, he hit .263. He had 6 homers, 5 doubles a triple, 10 walks and 19 strikeouts. 

                                                 Batting first, he hit .307 with 36 homers, 20 doubles and 5 triples. He drove in 84 in that spot and stole 44 of his bases. He hit .314 when hitting in the 2-hole. He hit .293 when he swung at the first pitch, and .322 when he took it. His most homers against any team were 5 against the Rockies and Marlins. He hit 4 against the Giants. His Best BA against any team was the .453 he hit against the Rockies. He had 24 hits against them, his best total against any team. 16 against the Giants and 15 against the Padres were his next highest totals.

                                            He hit .500 in the three games in Miami. He hit .469 at Coors in 7 games. His 12 RBI’s in Miami was his most on the road. He drove in 11 at Coors. He hit .357 during the day, .293 at night, .300 in a dome, .308 on grass and .323 on turf.  His overall OPS was 1.036. Well worth the 2 million he got in salary this season. But the real mother lode the Dodgers got from Ohtani came from sales of merchandise, increased international coverage of the brand, especially in Japan. His jersey became the #1 selling jersey in MLB overnight after he signed. The Dodgers will be reaping the benefits of his presence for years to come. 

                                              If that does not impress you, just think how much hype and interest there will be next March 18th when the Dodgers and their two Japanese stars, maybe 3 if they can get Sasaki, meet the Cubs in the season opener in Tokyo. Imanaga and Suzuki vs Ohtani-Yamamoto.   It will be through the roof excitement, and I would venture a guess that the Tokyo Dome will be packed.  Ohtani started garnering awards almost immediately. He earned a silver slugger; the Hank Aaron award and he was named to the first team all MLB team.  About 10 minutes ago it was announced that Ohtani was named the unanimous MVP of the NL.                                                                                                                                                     2024 NL Unanimous MVP

                                             So, what can fans expect from Shohei in 25? One question still to be answered is how he will be used on days he pitches. The Angels had him DH and pitch. I have to believe the Dodgers will do the same thing, only the lineup will show the pitcher hitting. Just like the old days. If my memory serves, if you start a game without the DH, you cannot put him in later. In other words, unless Ohtani moved to an offensive position after he was removed from the mound, they would lose his bat the rest of the game. So that will be interesting to see how the Dodgers handle that. 

                                           If they go to a six-man rotation, Ohtani will get around 27 starts IF he is ready to go at the beginning of the year. It will be a few more weeks before he starts working his shoulder out. Since it was his non-throwing arm, pitching should not be a real problem, but I am of the mind his hitting could be affected some until he is at full strength. Remember how long it took Bellinger to regain the strength in his shoulder after 2020. 

                                          The Dodgers will continue to reap the financial benefits of having him on the team for a long time. His jersey sales went through the roof when he signed, with him the unanimous MVP, they will no doubt be very strong again next year. Plus, the fact that as the World Champions, they will have those special jersey’s again with the gold trim around the Dodgers script on the chest.  And also, around the numbers and name on the back. We won’t know all of the new faces that are expected every year until the team reports to spring training in February. This year was such a fun ride, let’s do it again.