NEW YORK (AP) — Of the 20,000-plus players to appear in Major League Baseball, only one has been an All-Star as a pitcher and batter.
Shohei Ohtani is unique, with a skillset and drive that hasn't been duplicated in 150 years.
“It's aweing,” Dodgers teammate Freddie Freeman said. “Sometimes you just like to make sure it’s not a machine under there.”
Ohtani will showcase his unique two-way talent when he starts World Series Game 4 on the mound for Los
Angeles against the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday night. The start comes about 17 hours after he finished one of the greatest games in Series history, tying an MLB record by reaching base nine times, including two homers and four extra-base hits, in an 18-inning classic that ended on Freddie Freeman's homer.
Ohtani hopes he is setting an example of what is possible and doesn’t remain unique.
“I like to encourage kids who are trying the two-way to do it as long as possible, as long as they’re allowed to, as much as their talent level could take them,” he said through a translator.
Teammates with an up-close view of Ohtani aren't sure anyone else could do what he does. Los Angeles shortstop Mookie Betts, an eight-time All-Star who has excelled in the infield and outfield, says desire isn't enough to create a two-way player.
“Man, we got to be careful because not everybody is Shohei Ohtani. Not everybody’s 6-4 (actually 6-3), however much he weighs, throws 100 (mph) and hits like that. There’s only one man that can do that,” Betts said. “If there was more, then I’m sure we would hear about him and know about him. So I’m sure people will try. I’m not here to to tell people not to try, but I am here to understand there is a difference in abilities and just pure raw athleticism.”
College baseball has an award for best two-play player, named after John Olerud, an All-American first baseman and pitcher at Washington State in the 1980s. He became an All-Star first baseman during a 17-season big league career but never pitched professionally.
Olerud Award winners include Brendan McKay, Spencer Schwellenbach and Paul Skenes, who hit 24 homers with 81 RBIs in 100 games at Air Force in 2021 and 2022. His two-way career ended when he transferred to LSU for 2023.
“They stopped putting me in BP groups,” Skenes said. “I went to LSU and I stopped catching, but I was hitting still. And I wanted to keep hitting as long as I could, but the upside on the mound, I think, was a lot better than upside hitting. So kind of gave it up, and I wasn’t too broken up about it because we had the opportunity to win the national championship, and we ended up doing it. So I think it was worth it.”
Freeman was once a two-way player — at El Modena High School. He doesn’t think about what could have been if he had remained on the mound.
“If I kept pitching my arm would have blown out, I promise you,” he said. “My elbow was hurting in high school.”
Ohtani at age 31 has a .282 average with 280 homers and 669 RBIs in eight major league seasons — more career home runs than Hall of Famers Joe Morgan, Derek Jeter and Paul Molitor.
And Ohtani is 39-20 with a 3.00 ERA on the mound with 670 strikeouts in 528 2/23 innings, limited to 100 starts because he didn't pitch in 2019 and 2024 following elbow operations.
Ohtani's 98.4 mph four-seam fastball velocity ranked seventh this season among starters who threw 500 or more pitches and 94.9 mph exit velocity on batted balls ranked third among hitters who saw 500 pitches, trailing only Oneil Cruz and Aaron Judge.
In Game 4 of the NL Championship Series against Milwaukee, he pitched six scoreless innings, striking out the side in the first, and hit three homers. Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred called it “probably the greatest game of all time.”
“He’s kind of like a super human,” fellow Dodgers starter Tyler Glasnow said.
Don't expect another super human soon. The forces of the 30 big league organizations discourage two-way players.
"We don’t even see too many switch-hitters," said New York Yankees special assistant Omar Minaya, a former general manager of the New York Mets and Montreal Expos. “Relievers are one inning, starters are starters, right-handed hitters are right-handed hitters, left-handed hitters are left-handed hitters. The game has evolved into a specialty sport, meaning that it discourages versatility in how you play the game.”
Still, awe of Ohtani has limits. Blue Jays manager John Schneider will watch Ohtani during the season when he's not tied up with his own club, but only to a point.
“They’re three hours behind us," he said. “I’m always watching baseball, but if I’m tired and it’s time to hit the rack and he’s coming up to lead off the next inning, I’m asleep.”
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