Shohei Ohtani

[Rockwell Torrey 1280]

Last night 6 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 5 SO and the win.  Today 2 for 5 with 2 HR

Those are two game stats for the stud athlete in the local little league not player in MLB.  Dude is amazing.

 

[Gil Bang 25907]

28 HR.  Tell me that this motherfucker isn't the best player in MLB. 

[tx 3 putt 76859]

angels need to trade him, they'll get a hell of return for him 

[Huckleberry 32839]

I need to take my son to watch him when he starts a game. The world hasn't seen this shit in 100 years. Literally. And even Ruth didn't do it long term. 

[Pimphand 5732]

17 hours ago, Gil Bang said:

28 HR.  Tell me that this motherfucker isn't the best player in MLB. 

It's a pretty remarkable turnaround from last year.

 

37 minutes ago, Huckleberry said:

I need to take my son to watch him when he starts a game. The world hasn't seen this shit in 100 years. Literally. And even Ruth didn't do it long term. 

Ruth pitched for what 4 seasons? Isn't that roughly what Ohtani is at now?

[Huckleberry 32839]

Ruth had two seasons of over 150 PA and 100 IP. Ohtani is on pace to get there for the first time this season. I'm just hoping he keeps doing it.

Dude has 3.3 bWAR and 2.4 pWAR (baseball reference) this season. So on pace for somewhere around 6.5 bWAR and 5.0 pWAR. Ruth did that never.

1916 - 1.6 bWAR, 8.8 pWAR
1917 - 2.1 bWAR, 6.5 pWAR
1918 - 4.6 bWAR, 2.3 pWAR
1919 - 8.3 bWAR, 0.8 pWAR

By 1920 he was a full time position player, and to be fair he was putting up 11.8 and 12 WAR in his first two seasons doing that.

Edited June 30, 2021 by Huckleberry

[Gil Bang 25907]

Batting leadoff and pitching at Yankee Stadium tonight

[Gil Bang 25907]

Angels announcer said that when he’s done pitching tonight, there’s a good chance he’ll move to right field

[Gil Bang 25907]

Looks like he will be moving to right field fairly soon. He can’t find the fucking plate tonight

[Gil Bang 25907]

He got completely fucked by the ump multiple times and maddon brought the hook in the first inning

[Helobious 9461]

Lol. We rocked his ass. Couldn’t even get out of the 1st inning.

[ztejas 43411]

On 6/29/2021 at 8:16 PM, Gil Bang said:

28 HR.  Tell me that this motherfucker isn't the best player in MLB. 

I will not tell you that. 

[Gil Bang 25907]

4 hours ago, Helobious said:

Lol. We rocked his ass. Couldn’t even get out of the 1st inning.

scoreboard bitch.  

 

 

[Underdog 28543]

Yeah, that aged well. 

[Gil Bang 25907]

2 hours ago, Underdog said:

Yeah, that aged well. 

I regret that I didn't go with "take the loss, pussy"

[Gil Bang 25907]

just put #29 in the cheap seats. 

[Gil Bang 25907]

Followed by #30.

 

MVP

MVP

MVP

[Gil Bang 25907]

 

[Gil Bang 25907]

 

[Gil Bang 25907]

And a stolen base. 

[Gil Bang 25907]

And the stolen base resulted in the fast motherfucker scoring the winning run 

[ztejas 43411]

Jesus. I'm not sure either of those swings on those pitches should ever have a shot at clearing the fence. And they were both gone. 

He's the best player since, who, roided Bonds? Late 2000s Pujols or mid 2000s ARod?

Edited July 3, 2021 by ztejas

[DougO 5243]

On 6/29/2021 at 10:27 PM, tx 3 putt said:

angels need to trade him, they'll get a hell of return for him 

If they don't ruin him first.

[TonyTexas 10504]

6 hours ago, ztejas said:

He's the best player since, who, roided Bonds? Late 2000s Pujols or mid 2000s ARod?

Here’s the best player from the late 2000s

 

[Hank Chinaski 6312]

8 hours ago, ztejas said:

He's the best player since, who, roided Bonds? Late 2000s Pujols or mid 2000s ARod?

To me, Trout is still the best in the game - though I hope the second half of his career isn't like Griffey's, who couldn't stay healthy in his 30s and was never quite the same after leaving Seattle. 

But the thing with Ohtani - how do you compare him to any other player? Of course he's not in the same tier as deGrom or Scherzer or Cole on the mound - he's a good mid-rotation starter (which is still really good). Offensively, he's terrific. Is he a better offensive player than Vlad Jr or Tatis or Acuna or Soto (or Trout when healthy)? Probably not, but he's making a case that he's in that class. 

I'd guess that he'll lead MLB in WAR this season, which is probably still the best way to compare him to the field, but he'll have to do that more than once to be considered the best in the game because he has a teammate who has done that multiple times. 

It doesn't really matter - he's great and unique and a blast to watch. I hope he stays healthy and plays for a long time, because his career will be fascinating.

[ztejas 43411]

Just checked and after last night he's slugging .704.

That's obscene. 

[Gil Bang 25907]

fucking fans man.  The most exciting player in a generation is at bat, and instead of watching this badass, they're looking at their phones while they make a shitty video of his at bat...which of course will be widely available online in HiDef. 

Stop and smell the roses asshole.  Nobody wants to see your facebook post when they can catch it on ESPN. 

[bluto 4912]

He’s actually worth a ticket to see in person to me. And mlb bores the shit out of me generally.

[Gil Bang 25907]

#31.
459 feet.

[billfromlaketravis 11444]

Probably the greatest player in several generations, but... he’ll get forgotten like Trout because he plays for a shitty organization. Welp, he’ll always have his numbers and nerdy Buster Olney columns explaining his greatness. 

Edited July 4, 2021 by billfromlaketravis

[TonyTexas 10504]

8 minutes ago, billfromlaketravis said:

Probably the greatest player in several generations,

You might want to slow your roll bud. Yeah, he’s having a historic season but he only has 2 seasons worth of ABs and less than that in number of starts. But I agree that if he continues this pace for several years then he has a chance. 

[billfromlaketravis 11444]

7 minutes ago, TonyTexas said:

You might want to slow your roll bud. Yeah, he’s having a historic season but he only has 2 seasons worth of ABs and less than that in number of starts. But I agree that if he continues this pace for several years then he has a chance. 

His pitching/hitting numbers track back to 1919, and are much better than the Babe’s final pitching/batting seasons. If he were an Astro we’d proclaim him the Japanese Jesus. 

[WillUSAF 226]

He is the first player EVER to elected to the All Star game as a position player AND a pitcher!!  Ruth wasn't pitching in 1933 when the All Star games started. Pretty fucking amazing feat

[MaybeACoordinator 8349]

What's weird to me is that there have been a few guys in each generation who could do this -- hardly any of them at this level, of course -- but at some point it just became set in stone that you were either a pitcher or a hitter and that's that. Now a Japanese player smashes that idea. You'd think as traditional as they are, the Japanese would not be the ones giving a guy the chance to destroy a false paradigm, for that is what it has always been.

Some people are major league hitters. Some people are major league pitchers. Some people -- a much smaller subset -- are both, and a tiny subset of that number are very good to great at one or the other or even both. 

Zach Grienke is a better bat off the bench right now with the Astros banged up / bereaved / and babied up than almost any other guy in the dugout, but Baker won't use him because that's just not what we do here in this country. And I'd bet if Grienke had been hitting through his career, we'd be amazed at how good he was. 

I mean, we've seen a few dudes go from pitcher to hitter but never allow them to do it at the same time, and I've just never seen a compelling reason why not.

Edited July 5, 2021 by MaybeACoordinator

[shadow_operative 15932]

13 hours ago, billfromlaketravis said:

His pitching/hitting numbers track back to 1919, and are much better than the Babe’s final pitching/batting seasons. If he were an Astro we’d proclaim him the Japanese Jesus. 

yeah, he's having a historical season, but he has a very very long way to go before he can be proclaimed "the greatest player in several generations." as of now he's not even the best Japanese MLB player of the last 20 years, much less ahead of Bonds, Griffey, Pujols, Trout, etc.

Edited July 5, 2021 by shadow_operative

[Gil Bang 25907]

Pitching tonight against BOS, and batting 2nd.  Rendon usually hits behind him, and he was put on the DL today.    Trout can't get well soon enough. 

[Gil Bang 25907]

So, he gives up and running the first. Not surprising as the first thing has always been his roughest.

Comes to bat in the bottom of the first, rips an RBI double. Then gets driven in by a Stassi home run.

Then pitched a 123 inning in the top of the second. The third out with a broken back grounder. Fucking guy picks up the broken bad, trots over and hands it to the runner that just got thrown out at first and pats him on the shoulder.

Not only the best player in baseball, but the nicest guy in baseball.

[Gil Bang 25907]

No I didn’t have a stroke

[Gil Bang 25907]

7 innings pitched. 2 earned runs. 1 RBI. He’s most likely done for the night, with a 5-2 lead going into the bottom of 7.

[Gil Bang 25907]

He’s done. A terrific showing against one of the best teams in baseball

[Gil Bang 25907]

Day game vs. BOS.

 

Shohei leads off in the 5th.   Fouls one off his own foot.  It stung.  Then fouls one off his knee.  Has to step out of the box.  He's really hurting.

Then gives the next pitch a 114 MPH ride to the right field bleachers. 

 

440 ft. 

 

This is a bad motherfucker.

Edited July 7, 2021 by Gil Bang

[ztejas 43411]

9 minutes ago, Gil Bang said:

Day game vs. BOS.

 

Shohei leads off in the 5th.   Fouls one off his own foot.  It stung.  Then fouls one off his knee.  Has to step out of the box.  He's really hurting.

Then gives the next pitch a 114 MPH ride to the right field bleachers. 

 

440 ft. 

 

This is a bad motherfucker.

We may be seeing the perfect storm of a guy getting supernova hot with pitching being neutered at the same time. I'd be kind of surprised if he doesn't crack 60.

[Gil Bang 25907]

And when he's got Trout hitting behind him, he's gonna see more pitches. 

[Gil Bang 25907]

interesting:

 

[Blotto 23484]

On 7/5/2021 at 7:54 AM, shadow_operative said:

yeah, he's having a historical season, but he has a very very long way to go before he can be proclaimed "the greatest player in several generations." as of now he's not even the best Japanese MLB player of the last 20 years, much less ahead of Bonds, Griffey, Pujols, Trout, etc.

Jesus Christ, this. If he does this for 5,10 years he's gonna be an all timer. As of now, he's done it for half a season. I remember when everyone couldn't stop jacking off about Mookie Betts after his 2018 mvp season. Betts is a talented player, but he certainly hasn't repeated that level of play. Guys get hot. Can he stay hot for multiple seasons? 

[shadow_operative 15932]

Yelich has been trash since his MVP; Soto has done nothing this year; Bellinger was the MVP at 23 and he's batting like .215 over the last two years. i'm all for proclaiming a guy the next big thing (as i've done with Javy, Vladdy, Luka, Jokic, etc), but let's try and keep it in our pants when the guy has been dominant for all of half a season. 

[Hank Chinaski 6312]

Yeah. Ohtani, Tatis, Acuna, Soto, Guerrero are awesome, but they're still looking up at Trout. 

3 hours ago, shadow_operative said:

Soto has done nothing this year

I agree with your overall point, but to nitpick, I'd disagree here. Soto has a 142 OPS+ in 75 games at age 22, and it feels disappointing. There is no reason to think he's not on the very short list of best hitters in the game. (Not saying that's what you were implying, just saying that even when he hasn't been at his best, he's still better than almost everyone.)

[Huckleberry 32839]

Ohtani isn't looking up at anyone right how. Career production is a perfectly valid way of comparing players but right now, at this moment, Ohtani is the best baseball player in the world. To me it's weird to think otherwise. A lot of that is probably because it's strange to me to wonder if he's a flash in the pan because he's been famous for being ridiculously good at baseball for almost a decade now.

Injuries are the main thing to really worry about curtailing his production and that doesn't mean he's not an all time great player. Bo Jackson is rightfully considered one of the greatest athletes of all time and didn't really do shit after getting hurt at 28 years old. 

[Pimphand 5732]

Yeah he's having a season for the ages.  It should be enjoyed and celebrated.  The turnaround from 2020 has been remarkable.

It's a shame he languishes with such a horrible organization and we may not get to see him in the postseason but the same can be said for Trout.

I mean hell the Rangers, Astros, and Angels all gave Nolan Ryan a total of 4 seasons in the playoffs over a total of 21 seasons.  That shit is unforgivable.

[Hank Chinaski 6312]

11 minutes ago, Huckleberry said:

Ohtani isn't looking up at anyone right how. Career production is a perfectly valid way of comparing players but right now, at this moment, Ohtani is the best baseball player in the world. To me it's weird to think otherwise.

Sure, I guess it's about the definition of "best in the game" and whether that implies a certain amount of time/track record; it certainly doesn't have to. 

If I could have any player in MLB on my team for the next 5 years (ignoring contract, etc), I'd probably still go with Trout. But I wouldn't fault anyone for going with Ohtani (or the other guys previously listed).