Shohei Ohtani has taken the MLB by storm the first week of the season! After a slow spring many people questioned if Ohtani belonged in the majors and for good reason, the Japanese star was just 4/32 with 1 RBI in spring as well as pitching just 2.2 innings and giving up 8 runs. Many players would be sent down to A or AA with numbers like that but the Angles has faith in their new addition in hopes that he would find success that at some point this season.
I don’t think anyone in the Angels front office imagined a start as good as Ohtanis this season, we are only about a week and a half in and some people are already saying he could win the AL MVP and that’s saying something since Mike Trout is on his team. It’s still early on and a lot of players who come from overseas directly into the majors get off to fast starts and then level off similar to Eric Thames of the Brewers last year but Ohenti has two sides to him so even if he begins to struggle from the plate he can still perform well on the mound or vise versa. There’s no doubt that he has the skills to be great at both positions but maintaining his excellence even if it’s not at the level he has been at so far will take a lot of work.
Ohenti has been lights out at the plate and after throwing a no hitter into the 6th yesterday people are really watching out for him on the mound as well. He is one of the most gifted players in the league and into the 6th inning he was throwing 99 mph still to go along with a nasty sinker that he had working all day. If he can continue to command his pitches well the stuff he has will make him a great pitcher. He currently sits at a 2.02 ERA with 18 strikeouts in just 13 innings. If he can keep his stuff together on the mound he could resemble another Japanese Star in Yu Darvish with the strikeout rate he has so far. Keeping a 2.02 ERA will be hard but I think if he can stay healthy he can manage an ERA somewhere in the 3.00-3.30 tang with 10-15 wins.
From the plate he has been just as good. After a rough spring Ohenti has hit .389 with 3HR and 7 RBI in the first week and a half of action. There is no doubt he has the power and so far he has hit for average as well. I haven’t watched him enough to tell if he will be a .300 hitter or not but either way he has the potential to hit 25+ HR which if he can do that along with 10-15 wins on the mound why wouldn’t he be the most valuable player in the league?
A lot can happen and there is just a small sample size but Ohenti has the skills to be a great player only time will tell and I’m sure he will have ups and downs this year but I think he is in store for a good season and why I don’t know if he will win an MVP this year I think he will definitely be in the running for Roomie of the year in the AL.