LA Angels: 3 statistics that show why Shohei Ohtani should win AL MVP

No. 2 statistic that shows why Shohei Ohtani should win AL MVP: His entire pitching stat line

So we already know how great Shohei Ohtani has been offensively and as a baserunner for the LA Angels, but just how great was he as a pitcher?

Well, he was elite. Ohtani finished with this stat line on the bump:

9-2 W-L record//3.18 ERA//1.090 WHIP//3 BB/9//10.8 K/9//.207 BAA

Listen, it’s hard to pitch in this league. Well, it’s actually not so bad because the pitchers don’t have to hit, right?

Wrong. There is one pitcher who had to hit, and that was Ohtani. Despite sacrificing his legs for offense, he still put up huge numbers as a pitcher.

Pitchers in the American League don’t even have to hit. Ohtani not only had to hit during the games he pitched in, but was so dominant offensively that he’s smoked 45 home runs, he’s driven in 99 runs, he’s scored 101 runs, he’s smacked eight triples, he’s gotten on base 37.1% of the time, and he’s recorded a .594 slugging percentage (.964 OPS).

The fact that people are even trying to make this a conversation is such a joke. The guy was literally both the starting DH and starting pitcher of the All-Star Game.

No. 1 statistic that shows why Shohei Ohtani should win AL MVP: 7.9 fWAR

Shohei Ohtani leads the Majors in Fangraphs’ Wins Above Replacement at 7.9.

Guerrero isn’t even close at 6.5. He’s not even second in our league. In fact, he’s not even first on his own team.

But he’s the most valuable? It makes no sense. He isn’t contributing the wins to his team that Ohtani is.

And by the way, it’s a lot harder for Ohtani to contribute wins to his team when he has literally nobody hitting behind him.

Everybody on this team has been hurt. Mike Trout has been out since mid-May, Anthony Rendon has been out almost as long, Justin Upton got hurt mid-season and was never the same, and Max Stassi has had many trips to the IL this year.

Guerrero has many great and healthy players in his lineup.

Ohtani is still putting up almost just as good of offensive stats as he is, and he’s one of the best pitchers in this league.

He’s also the best baserunner, and he can play in the field too. He’s the definition of a complete baseball player, and his dominance on both sides of the ball proves that he’s indeed the most valuable baseball player out.