Angels News: Joe Maddon Doesn’t Expect to See Another Shohei Ohtani Any Time Soon
Former Angels manager Joe Maddon was on the Dan Patrick Show last week, and as is often the case when the Angels are involved, the topic of conversation turned to Shohei Ohtani. Specifically, they discussed the uniqueness of Ohtani's skillset and major-league success.
Patrick asked Maddon about whether Ohtani might create a wave of two-way players, as high school and college players see that it's possible and don't feel a need to choose between pitching and hitting as they get to the pros.
“When you’re playing every day, 162, to be able to pull off what he’s done, I’m not saying it’s not going to happen again but I’m really curious as to when it might,” Maddon said. “Yeah, there’s going to be potential imitators, and like I said when you play maybe three days a week, you can do absolutely, we all did it in high school. But when you get to the level that he’s performing at, I really don’t think it’s going to happen in the very near future. And if it were to on some level, not with the kind of success he’s experienced.”
The point Maddon is making is that Ohtani is special. It's not just hard work and determination that got him to where he is. As Maddon points out, a lot of people are two-way players in high school, because hard work and determination can get you to that point in high school. But hitting in the major leagues requires talent and coordination that can't be taught — it can be coached, to make the most of the natural talent, but if you don't have a certain baseline talent level, you'll never make the big leagues no matter how good you were in high school. And a similar point applies to pitching.
Pitching and hitting are two entirely unrelated skillsets, and the chances of finding both skillsets in one person — and that person having the work ethic and determination to maximize both skills — is astronomical.
There has never been a player as talented in both areas as Ohtani. The talent level in the current major leagues is the highest it's ever been, and for Shohei to be among the best in baseball on both sides of the ball is crazy. Maddon wouldn't come out and say we'll never see it again, but he might as well have, because we won't.
