Shohei Ohtani is having the single greatest season ever

While Ohtani’s pitching stats are undeniably elite, they do come with the caveat that he’s simply pitching less than most other starters. The same handicap, however, doesn’t apply to his offensive numbers.

What Shohei Ohtani is doing with the bat is approaching historical levels of greatness.

Having more than enough at bats to qualify, the numbers really speak for themselves here.

As of August 7, Ohtani is number one in MLB with 37 home runs, an 8.7% home run rate, 65 extra base hits, a .653 slugging percentage, a .385 ISO, and to top it all off, 4.3 fWAR as a hitter.

On top of all of this, Ohtani is also third in OPS (1.014), second in wRC+ (170), third in RBIs (82), and eighth in runs scored (74).

It really should go without saying, but Ohtani is not only the best power hitter in baseball right now. He is on track to become one of the greatest ever, and this is only his third season.

Looking at his baseball savant page, things start to get even more absurd as we see that Ohtani leads the entire league in xSLG (.649), max exit velocity (119 mph) and barrel rate (24.8%).

He also just barely misses out on the top spots in hard hit rate (56.2%) and average exit velocity (93.9 mph).

At this point I almost feel bad for the poor baseballs he’s mutilating on a daily basis.

Utilizing all sides of the field and being able to hit every type of fastball (.764 SLG), breaking ball (.620) and offspeed pitch (.494), Ohtani is so much more than your run-of-the-mill dead-pull power hitter.

Oh, and just because he has to be good at everything, Ohtani is also in the 92nd percentile in sprint speed, averaging 28.8 ft/sec with 15 steals.

With that in mind, here’s where things start to get historical for Ohtani.

There’s a very realistic chance that come October, he will join the likes of Willie Mays, Brady Anderson, Ken Griffey Jr., and Alex Rodriguez as just the fifth member of the exclusive 50-20 club. That is at least 50 home runs and 20 stolen bases in a single season.

What about at least 50 home runs and 30 doubles in a single season? With 24 doubles at the moment, Ohtani looks primed to become only the 17th player in history to accomplish this.

Want to get even crazier? How about the 50-30-20 club. That’s at least 50 home runs, 30 doubles and 20 stolen bases in a single season. It’s looking like a no doubter that Ohtani will join Brady Anderson and Ken Griffey Jr. as just the third member of this club.

This is what you call an all-time great hitting season.