Two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani is undoubtedly the best player in baseball, and by the end of his career, will likely be deemed as the sport's G.O.A.T. But will there ever be another player like him?
Before diving into this vastly uncertain question, we must explore why Ohtani is such an outstanding player. He began his career in the Japanese Nippon-Ham pro baseball league as the second player drafted as a hitter and pitcher. The first being Kikuo Togunaga, in 1951. However, Ohtani was the first player to start in both roles. Ohtani became a legend in Japan, putting up stellar statistics during his career there. But when he entered the MLB, injuries held him back in his first two seasons, as well as the shortened 2020 season. In 2021, he finally proved his talent to the MLB world. During that season, he recorded an earned run average of 3.18 and an On-base plus slugging of .965. None had ever seen such elite statistics for pitching and hitting before. If you followed the MLB that season, you would constantly hear about him, and he was repeatedly breaking records. The most notable accolade was becoming the first player to pitch and hit in an All-Star game. Shohei put up nearly identical stats in 2022 and is on pace to do so this 2023 season.
How is a player even able to pitch and hit with elite caliber? Ohtani is a freak athlete, showing quality pitching velocity, power at the plate, and speed. The more athletic a player is, the more versatile they can be, thus Ohtani's extreme versatility. The only other player to even come close to what Shohei can do was Babe Ruth, who pitched while he played for the Red Sox, but then switched to hitting when he played for the Yankees. While Ruth did put up stellar stats on the mound and at the plate during his career, he did not pitch and hit at the same time. Other pitchers have recorded merely average hitting stats, such as Don Drysdale, Madison Bumgarner, and Brandon Backe have fallen into this category. But none of them have been able to hit nearly as efficiently as Ohtani has.
Thanks to the National League joining the American League in using designated hitters, pitchers have no longer been able to display their hitting talents. This closes an enormous window for two-way players to emerge and immensely lowers the likelihood of future two-way players arriving in baseball. Due to this, there is only one more question to ask, "Will Ohtani become a pioneer or an outcast?" The short answer is that only time will tell. Nonetheless, if we haven't seen a player like him since 100 years ago, so it's doubtful that we will ever see another two-way superstar.
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