Shohei Ohtani (1/2) - 2023
Shohei Ohtani 🇯🇵 (2023)
Shohei Ohtani (Ōshū, Iwate, July 5, 1994). nicknamed "Shotime", Is a Japanese professional baseball pitcher and designated hitter for the Los Angeles Dodgers. He has previously played in MLB for the Los Angeles Angels and the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB).
Because of his elite contributions both as a hitter and as a pitcher, a rarity for two-way players, Ohtani's peak is widely considered among the greatest in baseball history, with some comparing it favorably to the early career of Babe Ruth.
Describing Ohtani in a few words is challenging, especially considering all the awards he has won in MLB. The most notable ones include: Two-time American League MVP (2021, 2023), 3 All-Star Games (2021-2023), American League Rookie of the Year (2018). Additionally, he won the World Baseball Classic in 2023 with Japan and was named MVP of the WBC.
To analyze the 2023 season, we need to divide his performance as a pitcher and a batter. We'll start with Pitcher, and you can see his batting stats in part two, here.
He had an Earned Run Average of 3.14, 10 wins - 5 losses, 1.061 WHIP, 167 strikeouts, and an average of 11.4 strikeouts per 9 innings. However, his pitching season couldn't be completed due to a tear in the ulnar collateral ligament of his right elbow, and he had to stop pitching in mid-August 2023.
Despite his injury, Ohtani remained among the top pitchers of the season, and despite the burden of being a batter, he was able to maintain both roles at their peak performance.
He had a 10 WAR, Being above average by far. Additionally, a season is generally considered good if a player achieves a WAR between 3 to 6, while a WAR of 8 or higher is considered MVP-worthy.
So yes, more than deserved his MVP, his role in the Angels was so unique that he was the only player to have a WAR above 4; the second-best was Mike Trout with a 2.9 WAR.
I must clarify that the rankings are based on a combination of both leagues, in order to assess the significance of performance in categories that feature among the best in MLB.
If you have any questions regarding the types of pitches (Fastball, Changeup, etc.), here is all the necessary information
Enjoy it 🙌
Data provided by Baseball Savant
1- Strikeout Machine
Ohtani threw 2094 pitches, his pitch arsenal: Sweeper (35%), FS Fastball (33%), Cutter (16%), Sinker, and Splitter (6%), Curveball (4%). A characteristic trait of Japanese pitchers is their wide variety of pitches they can throw, as you can see, the Sweeper is his standout pitch, is a variation of the Slider, but with a more horizontal movement.
To better understand the performance of his main pitches, let's look at some stats:
Sweeper: .142 OBA, .337 SLG, 71 Strikeouts, 36.5 Whiff%, 42% Strikeout Rate
FS Fastball: .165 OBA, .237 SLG, 50 Strikeouts, 27.1 Whiff%, 35.9% Strikeout Rate
Cutter: .315 OBA, .603 SLG, 14 Strikeouts, 23.1 Whiff%, 19.1% Strikeout Rate
Splitter: .175 OBA, .200 SLG, 17 Strikeouts, 36.5 Whiff%, 42.5% Strikeout Rate
Before starting, here is a compilation of his 2023 season best plays as a hitter and pitcher.
and also a video to see its grips and movement mechanics
Now let's see his performance against RHB and LHB, first we will look at the pitch distribution in each stand.
The lower zone outside the strike zone is where he made the most pitches against RHB, out of 332 pitches, 148 were Sweeper.
Next, we have two charts showing the pitch distribution in each count. The zones are divided into three: Upper, Center, Lower, all covering outside the strike zone to provide an overview of Ohtani's pitch location.
As mentioned earlier, the Sweeper and FS Fastball are his primary pitches, which we'll see frequently in each count. The "Other" category comprises Ohtani's remaining pitches (Curveball, Slider, and Sinker).
In the first chart, we can see the early counts; most of his pitches were directed towards the lower zone, with the Sweeper being the most frequent pitch thrown in that zone. The combination of the FS Fastball and Sweeper was lethal, as Ohtani is known for pitching on the edge of the strike zone, making it nearly impossible for a batter to predict his movements.
In fact, against RHB, Ohtani threw 432 pitches on the edge of the strike zone, mostly: 176 Sweeper, and 147 Fastballs. .190 OBA, 43 strikeouts, and a 37.3% Whiff rate.
In the second chart, we can see that the distribution changes significantly because these are the later counts. In 2-0 and 2-1, we can see an increase in the use of Cutter, which, by the way, was the only pitch that did not meet the demands.
Against LHB, the lower zone outside the strike zone is where he made the most pitches, 173 pitches, of which 60 were Sweeper, 47 Cutter, and 34 FS Fastball. Additionally, in the upper zone outside the strike zone, there were 170 pitches, of which 53 were FS Fastball.
Against LHB, the distribution is different; we can see that the use of Sweeper is not as common, and he varies his pitches between FS Fastball, Cutter, and Splitter.
Similar to against RHB, the trend was on the edge of the strike zone, with 394 pitches, including 145 FS Fastballs and 116 Sweepers, resulting in .138 opponent batting average, 41 strikeouts, and a 33.2% Whiff rate.
In addition to the variety of pitches Ohtani uses, exit velocity is key. The FS Fastball had an average of 96.8 mph, ranking fifth in MLB in 2023. The leaders were: 3- Grayson Rodriguez - 97.4 mph, 2- Sandy Alcantara - 98 mph, 1- Bobby Miller - 99.1 mph.
Now that we have the pitch distribution and which pitch was most frequent depending on the count, we can see in the chart below the distribution of strikes (called strikes and swinging strikes) against RHB. Ohtani struck out 91 RHB players, with .170 OBA, .583 OPS.
53% were called strikes, validating that Ohtani sought the edge of the strike zone quite regularly, with 48% in the lower zone.
Against LHB players: 76 strikeouts, .197 OBA, .653 OPS. Here, the strikes varied more, with more use of the Cutter and FS Fastball. Additionally, 52% were in the lower zone. Against both players, the intention was the same but using different pitches.
2- Sweeper
Let's recap the incredible stats of the Sweeper:
.142 OBA, .337 SLG, 71 Strikeouts, 36.5 Whiff%, 42% Strikeout Rate
98 BBE, of which 24 were hits, which means that only 24.4% of the BBE were hits, and 33.7% Hard Hit.
Being an effective pitch that Ohtani managed very well, he had the second-best OBA with the Sweeper in the MLB: 3- Justin Lawrence - .149 OBA, 2- Shohei Ohtani - .142 OBA, 1- Sonny Gray - .097 OBA.
Now, I'll leave you with a video showing what, for me, was the best moment of 2023. It was the last plate appearance in the final of the World Baseball Classic, Ohtani versus his teammate and one of the best hitters in MLB, Mike Trout. You'll see the difference between the FS Fastball and the Sweeper.
Also, in the center of the strike zone, he threw 73 pitches and had a .296 OBA. Lastly, in the top-right corner (outside the strike zone), he threw 86 pitches with a .000 OBA. Despite being very dominant, the sweeper yielded 24 hits, of which 9 were home runs.
3- Hits
Ohtani had 297 Batted Ball Events, out of which 85 were hits, making him the pitcher in MLB with the fewest Batted Ball Events: 3- Clayton Kershaw - 343, 2- Grayson Rodriguez - 341, 1- Shohei Ohtani - 297.
Furthermore, in hits allowed, he was the pitcher ranked with the fewest hits allowed in the MLB: 3- Bobby Miller - 105, 2- Clayton Kershaw - 100, 1- Shohei Ohtani - 85.
With Runners in Scoring Position(RISP), he had a .232 OBA, .775 OPS, and allowed 28 runs.
Out of the 85 hits, 52 were singles, 15 were doubles, and 18 were home runs. The vast majority were in the infield, between first and second base.
In the last chart, we can see the ISO for each count. ISO stands for Isolated Power, which measures the raw power of a hitter by considering only extra-base hits and the type of extra-base hit. By focusing strictly on extra-base hits, ISO can help evaluate the raw power a player possesses.
In the season, Ohtani had an ISO of .149.
For context, the average ISO is .140, and anything above .230 is well above average, where hitters like Mike Trout, Aaron Judge, and even Ohtani can reach those numbers.
Since it only accounts for extra hits, in Ohtani's case, it would be the 15 doubles and the 18 home runs allowed.
In 0-0, he had an ISO of .340, allowing 4 home runs and 4 doubles, indicating susceptibility to giving up an extra hit on the first pitch. In 0-1 and 1-1, the percentage remains equally high, but in 3-1, it was .750, allowing 2 home runs and 1 double.
In fact, 0-0 and 1-1 were he allowed the most hits with 15.
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