Shohei Ohtani is having the single greatest season ever

When you think of the all-time greatest individual MLB seasons, what comes to mind?

On the pitching side you’d probably say Pedro Martinez’s otherworldly 2000 season or Bob Gibson’s history-defining 1968 showcase. For hitters it’s probably Barry Bonds’ record setting 2001 or any one of Babe Ruth’s seasons from the 1920s.

Seasons like these have an almost mythical reverence to them, while the men who played them have transformed into modern American folk heroes.

I mention all of this because what Shohei Ohtani is doing right now for the LA Angels might just top every single one of them.

Shohei Ohtani is quite possibly having the best season in MLB history.

Anyone who even remotely cares about baseball probably already knows of Shohei Ohtani’s historic two-way exploits.

From being both the starting pitcher and starting DH in the All-Star game to being the runaway favorite for American League MVP, the man has quite literally done it all.

But just how good are Ohtani’s numbers this year? And when all’s said and done, where will his historic season rank among the all-time greats?

Before moving on, it should be noted that when using WAR in this debate, the numbers get a little finicky when talking about two-way players. This is due to the value they bring to the game being much different than that of a regular player.

In other words, WAR calculations aren’t designed to account for guys like Ohtani, due to them technically filling two roster spots for the price of one.

So while there are hundreds of individual seasons where players put up higher WAR totals than Ohtani projects to have, that doesn’t necessarily mean that what those players did was better or more impressive than what Shohei is doing right now.

Let’s start with his pitching.

Suffice it to say, but if Ohtani wasn’t working in a six-man rotation, he would undoubtedly be in the running for best pitcher in the AL.

Though he won’t have enough innings to win it, Shohei Ohtani is putting up Cy Young numbers for the LA Angels.

Following his 16th and most recent start on August 4, Ohtani is currently rocking an outstanding 2.93 ERA and 158 ERA+. Of all AL pitchers with at least 80 innings pitched, these are the sixth-best and second-best marks in the AL, respectively.

Ohtani’s also racked up 106 strikeouts in just 86 innings pitched, good for the eighth-best strikeout rate in the AL at 11.1 K/9. The direct results of these high strikeout numbers are a 1.093 WHIP (ninth-best) and a 3.26 FIP (eighth-best).

From a hitter’s perspective, opposing batters are slashing an abysmal .190/.287/.315 against Ohtani this season, all while striking out in just under 1/3 of their total at-bats.

Enabling all of this success is one of the best pitching arsenals of any pitcher in recent memory, headlined by two of the best breaking pitches in the league.

Starting with his slider, this pitch is a nightmare for any hitter.

With 17 inches of horizontal movement, Ohtani’s slider is sliding 9.3 more inches than the league average. As a result, opposing batters are left flailing at the pitch, whiffing 34.3% of the time and hitting just .188 against it.

Even more impressive, though, is Ohtani’s splitter. Quite possibly the best splitter in all of baseball, this pitch drops an unbelievable 33.7 inches on average. Watching it live, the ball looks as though it is literally avoiding players’ bats.

The results are videogame-esque as Ohtani’s splitter generates the lowest batting average (.084) and slugging percentage (.108) out of anybody’s in the league, while also creating the highest whiff rate (53.8%) and strikeout rate (59.6%).

All in all, Ohtani is currently sporting 2.2 fWAR as a pitcher, tied for the 17th-best in the AL.

While this may not seem too impressive, remember, all of the guys ahead of him on this list are full-time pitchers with upwards of five more starts and almost 50 more innings pitched.

If you extrapolate Ohtani’s 2.2 fWAR to match the same number of innings as Gerrit Cole, the current leader with 3.8 fWAR in 140.1 innings pitched, the result is 3.58 fWAR.

This would put Ohtani at fourth in the league and within spitting distance of potentially claiming the number one spot by season’s end.

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.