He truly might be the best hitter and best pitcher at the same time.
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The reason Ohtani was such a challenge to write about in the book is that he keeps topping himself. In the first version of the Shohei chapter, I wrote about back-to-back games he had against Kansas City in June 2022; he hit two home runs and drove in eight runs on a Tuesday and threw eight scoreless innings with 13 strikeouts on Wednesday. That appeared to represent his singular brilliance.
But then in March, he struck out his friend and teammate Mike Trout, the best player of the past decade, to close out Japan’s victory over the United States in the World Baseball Classic. So that became the chapter.has ever had: In June, he hit .394 with 15 home runs in 27 games while also winning two games as a pitcher and striking out 37 batters.
In so many ways, Ohtani perfectly represents why we still love baseball after all these years. That is because Ohtani, like baseball itself, blends the surprising and unsurprising like nothing else. Yes, on the one hand, he is doing things that have never been done before. But, at the same time, he feels oddly and sweetly familiar. Anyone who has played youth baseball will surely remember a teammate who wasThat’s baseball.
Baseball always prevails. You think you’ve seen all the sport has to offer — and then, like magic, a player such as Willie Mays or Roberto Clemente or Johnny Bench or Ken Griffey Jr. shows up. Or Shohei Ohtani. And it all feels new again.
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