‘Shotime’ Ohtani — the unicorn on a blockbuster run Premium

Virtuoso, versatile, unicorn — these are the adjectives that emanate from every baseball analyst and aficionado asked to describe Shohei Ohtani.

Virtuoso, versatile, unicorn — these are the adjectives that emanate from every baseball analyst and aficionado asked to describe Shohei Ohtani. The 6’4” Japanese player is indeed in a class of his own — a true all-rounder in a sport that has become specialised like no other in recent years.

Ohtani is the only man to have played as both lead pitcher and everyday batter in the same Major League Baseball (MLB) season in a century. He won the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award for his two-way excellence, batting southpaw and pitching right-handed, in 2021 and finished a close second in 2022. 

He topped these achievements with a spectacular performance for Japan in the World Baseball Classic (WBC) last month. He starred in his country’s third triumph — the most for any nation in the competition’s five editions — and was the tournament’s MVP.

Ohtani wasn’t just pulling double duty against the United States, baseball’s powerhouse cradle, in the WBC final in Miami. He scored a hit, walked once and, in the last (ninth) inning, turned closing pitcher — a specialised role requiring a different mentality to the starting pitcher’s. 

The US was trailing 2-3 but had three recent MLB MVPs lined up to bat — Mookie Betts (2018), Mike Trout (2019) and Paul Goldschmidt (2022) — following pinch-hitter Jeff McNeal.

Ohtani walked McNeal in a rocky start, but quickly recovered and got Betts and McNeal out in a double play, setting up an encounter with Los Angeles Angels teammate Trout, one of the best hitters of this generation, a three-time MVP and also US captain.

It was showtime baseball and a coincidental moment for the ages. The millions of fans — most of whom were watching on TV sets in Japan — could not have wished for anything better. Trout vs. Ohtani in a must-deliver situation: a power-hitter facing a power-pitcher. Their shared history with the underperforming Angels — the team has not advanced to the MLB playoffs in their five years together — made the match-up all the more fascinating.