Full details of Shohei Ohtani's Angels departure finalized after 2024 MLB Draft Day 1
The Shohei Ohtani era in Anaheim is officially over.
![Los Angeles Angels DH Shohei Ohtani](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,w_3138,h_1765,x_0,y_0/c_fill,w_752,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/GettyImages/mmsport/107/01j2vbkmme7qprbsfqfk.jpg)
Shohei Ohtani left Anaheim this past winter after agreeing to a gargantuan contract with the Los Angeles Angels' bitter rival. The two-way superstar inked a $700 million deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers and will spent the next decade up the I-5 freeway at Chavez Ravine.
But Ohtani's departure from the Angels was not finalized until the final pick was made during Day 1 of the 2024 MLB Draft. Why? Because Ohtani was slapped with a Qualifying Offer before leaving for free agency last offseason.
That netted the Angels a compensatory pick in this year's draft — though it's unlikely that even the No. 1 overall pick in the draft will match the type of numbers Ohtani will produce over the next 10 seasons, much less the No. 74 selection.
LA Angels close the book on Shohei Ohtani's tenure with 2024 MLB Draft pick
With the final pick of Day 1 of the 2024 MLB Draft, the Angels selected Ryan Johnson out of Dallas Baptist University. The 6-foot-6 right-hander was rated among the Top 50 draft eligible prospects, according to MLB Pipeline.
Johnson, who'll turn 22 years old next month, went 11-3 for the Patriots in 2024 with a 2.21 ERA and 151 punchouts in 106 innings of work. Johnson was a starter at Dallas Baptist, but many scouts fear that he will eventually see him wind up in the bullpen. Johnson has a rather truncated windup and doesn't use a leg kick, leading many to believe that his future is that of a reliever.
With the 74th pick in the 2024 #MLBDraft, we have selected P Ryan Johnson from Dallas Baptist University.
— Los Angeles Angels (@Angels) July 15, 2024
Welcome to the Angels, Ryan! pic.twitter.com/qNrgXHwkkP
Draft prospects are just that until they make their way to the big leagues, so time will tell whether or not Johnson has the makeup of a major league starter. But no matter how his future pans out, this officially ends any lingering connections Ohtani had to the Angels' organization.
This is not the ending that Ohtani or the Angels fanbase had hoped for when he joined the Halos back in December of 2017. Losing a generational talent like Ohtani for a late-second round pick is sure to make Angels fans sick to their stomach and doesn't offer any confidence for the direction of the franchise moving forward ... unless Johnson turns into a borderline Hall of Famer.
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