Shohei Ohtani: AL MVP campaign off to roaring start

Shohei Ohtani is doing things that MLB players don’t even dream of doing.

Ohtani has been the most dominant player in the entire MLB this season.

The LA Angels‘ Pitcher/Designated Hitter currently has a 2.10 ERA on the rubber, and now leads the MLB in home runs at 13 homers hit.

Last night, he set the baseball internet on fire. It feels like he can hit every pitch out of the park.

It also feels as if nobody can hit anything out of the park when facing him. In fact, he’s given up just 0.7 home runs per nine innings, and just one Major League starter has a higher amount of strikeouts per nine innings than Ohtani’s 14.

Now, couple that with his offensive marks: Ohtani’s not only leading the league in home runs, but is tied for fourth in RBI (32), tied for seventh in runs scored (30), and fifth in slugging percentage (.612).

Those 30 runs scored are tied for fourth among just AL teams, and he’s second in slugging percentage in the AL behind nobody other than our own Mike Trout.

These offensive numbers with a top 4 American League ERA cements Ohtani as the current AL MVP.

Obviously things could change from now until the end of the season, but right now, it’s not particularly close. Nobody in recent memory has been able to be elite both on the mound and at the plate, and Ohtani’s getting it done.

He even makes it look easy at times:

With Mike Trout out for an estimated six to eight weeks due to a calf strain, Angels fans still get to see plenty of star power on a daily basis with Ohtani in the lineup.

No player in the Majors can match what Ohtani’s done and provided for the Angels this year. No player in the AL, or the Majors, has been more valuable than Ohtani up to this point in the season.