From the moment Shohei Ohtani signed with the Angels in 2017, there was the potential
that he would not only change Major League Baseball, but also change the way players
are developed.
Here was a legitimate two-way player who drew comparisons to Babe Ruth, an intriguing experiment
for a major league team and something baseball fans hadn't seen in a century.
After dealing with injuries the past two seasons, Ohtani's back at full strength in 2021 and
seems to do something amazing every night.
How good he has been?
This is By the Numbers.
To put it bluntly, Shohei Ohtani is a freak.
So far this season, he's thrown a pitch 101 mph AND hit a ball 451 feet.
He also hit a ball 119 mph.
That's in the top 1 percent of all batted balls this season.
But that'll happen when you have a barrel rate of 22.6 percent, which also puts Ohtani
in the top 1 percent of all MLB players.
Ohtani is on pace to finish the season with more than 40 home runs, more than 100 RBIs
and an OPS north of .900.
That's a great season, but remember: It's only half his game.
On the mound, Ohtani's talents are equally clear.
He strikes out around 35 percent of the batters he faces, which puts him in the top 9 percent
among all MLB pitchers.
Not only that, but his whiff rate — which is the percentage of swings against him that
come up empty — is in the 95th percentile.
That means he gets more swings and misses than 95 percent of MLB pitchers.
And when batters do make contact, it's often not great.
The average exit velocity against him is just under 89 mph — weak contact by MLB standards.
He throws five pitches that keep hitters off-balance and guessing.
Though his fastball averages 96 mph and frequently hits triple digits, it's not even his most
effective pitch.
That would be his split-finger fastball that clocks in at just under 90 mph and generates
a whiff rate of almost 60 percent and has batters hitting at a microscopic .049 clip.
So it's not really a surprise that Ohtani averages 13.4 strikeouts per nine innings,
which is insanely good.
If all this talent wasn't enough, there's this: Ohtani's sprint speed is in the 96th
percentile, meaning he runs faster than all but 4 percent of MLB players.
So, basically, he's doing it all.
If he maintains this pace the rest of the season, Ohtani will finish with a WAR of more
than 10.
That would put his overall value this season on par with some all-time Hall of Fame greats
such as Willie Mays and Sandy Koufax.
As a pitcher, Ohtani's on pace to finish with around 5 Wins Above Replacement.
That's basically an average Clayton Kershaw season.
As a hitter, he's on pace to finish close to 6 Wins Above Replacement.
That would be roughly what Nolan Arenado has averaged over his past five full seasons.
So, yes, Shohei Ohtani is a baseball specimen like we've not seen in, well, ever — at
least not by anyone alive today.
So take it all in — because Ohtani is literally making history with every game he plays.