Angels News: MLB Analyst Thinks Shohei Ohtani is Already MLB’s Greatest Player of All Time
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It's impossible to compare players from different eras of baseball, but that doesn't stop people from trying. Over on MLB Network, they had a conversation about who is the baseball GOAT — Greatest of All Time.
Former big leaguers Carlos Peña and Ron Darling actually picked the same player: Willie Mays. Mays played 21 seasons with the Giants in New York and San Francisco, then went back to New York to play his final two years with the Mets. He posted a career OPS+ of 155 with 660 home runs and 3,293 hits. He was also an elite defensive center fielder for most of his career, and his 156.1 career WAR places him fifth on the career leaderboard behind just Babe Ruth, Walter Johnson, Cy Young, and Barry Bonds.
Host Greg Amsinger went a different direction, though.
"Love Willie Mays. He could do it all — except pitch. I'm not just stirring the pot. The greatest baseball player of all time is a guy that, this year, I predict will win the MVP and the Cy Young. Shohei Ohtani is the most talented, greatest baseball player we've ever seen, and it's, to me, not even close. He throws 101, he's a Cy Young contender, his K/9 is ridiculous, and he hits bombs, and he's fast. I'm sorry, this is the best baseball player we've ever seen."
After Amsinger is done, Peña says, "You just utilized different criteria than we did," and he's absolutely right. In fact, that's why these discussions are always fruitless, because one person will be comparing a player to his peers, another will be talking about how Babe Ruth wouldn't be able to hit today's pitching, and a third guy will be focusing much more on a short stretch of dominance than sustained greatness.
That short stretch of dominance is where Ohtani's at right now. If Shohei can keep this up for 15 more years, there will be no doubt that he's the greatest of all time. Right now, though, it's up for debate, because it's perfectly reasonable to think the greatest of all time needs to do it for significantly longer than five years.
What's probably not debatable is Amsinger's assertion that Ohtani is the most talented baseball player of all time. His ability to dominate a game on both sides of the ball is unparalleled, and unlikely to ever be matched.
The only question left for Ohtani is durability. Can he remain one of the best pitchers and best hitters in baseball for a long time? If so, these GOAT conversations may go by the wayside, because Ohtani will be the easy, obvious, clearly correct answer.
