Shohei Ohtani disrespected by MLB players, scouts and execs

Let’s face it; there’s no hitter who’s feared more than LA Angels‘ two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani.

It’s why I don’t know why MLB players, scouts, and execs are now claiming that Ohtani is not a top three hitter in the American League.

Baseball America surveyed MLB players, scouts, and execs, and they came back with ridiculous results.

Shohei Ohtani is a top two hitter in baseball, but was not ranked in the top three in the AL by his peers.

I have no idea what these people were thinking when not ranking Shohei Ohtani as a top three hitter in his league.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was ranked number one, which I’m okay with. It’s incorrect, as Ohtani has five more home runs (41), a much better slugging percentage (.623 to Guerrero’s .587), and a much better hard-hit percentage (45.1% to Guerrero’s 40.7%).

However, when looking at some of the other numbers that don’t deal with power as much, he’s leading over Ohtani. I at least can understand this one. The ones that I don’t understand, and I’m sure nobody understands, are Michael Brantley being ranked second and Rafael Devers being ranked third.

Let’s start with Brantley. He has a .317 batting average which is great, and much better than Ohtani’s .264 average. But who’s really squaring the ball up?

He has a 34.2% hard-hit percentage, so he’s really not making very solid contact. He has eight home runs which is just embarrassing, and Ohtani is just one RBI shy (89) of doubling Brantley’s RBI total.

His slugging percentage is nearly 200 points below Ohtani’s at .451. His on-base percentage is just eight points higher than Ohtani’s at .371, and his slugging percentage is 172 points lower than ShoTime’s. How is this guy better than Ohtani?

His OPS is .822. How is someone with an OPS of .822 even close to the hitter Ohtani is, when his OPS is .986. This is one of the worst takes I’ve seen all season.

Now let’s get to Rafael Devers, who was ranked third in the American League. Devers has a .908 OPS, which is obviously very far from Ohtani’s as well.

He’s slugging .556, which is once again a much worse mark than Ohtani’s. Get this: Devers’ on-base percentage is .352, compared to Ohtani’s .363. So what exactly does Devers do better than Ohtani?

He certainly doesn’t hit more homers than Ohtani, as his 32 are nine behind Ohtani’s 41 home runs. There’s really no comparison.

His .277 batting average is 13 points higher than Ohtani’s. Congratulations? Why would that matter when he’s not getting on-base as much and can’t hit for anywhere near the amount of power Ohtani can?

Did you know his hard-hit percentage is 40.4%? Ohtani’s making much better contact much more consistently. This is one of the most embarrassing lists I’ve seen in quite some time.

But this is a good thing. It’s just going to motivate Ohtani to continue to be better than his peers. He’s the best player in baseball, and obviously, he’s going to make some enemies.

He clearly has made very many enemies, as we can see from this horrendous list. I can’t wait for Ohtani to continue to prove these terrible takes wrong.