Angels News: Writer Predicts Shohei Ohtani’s 2023 Season is His Best Yet
Shohei Ohtani has consistently improved in each of his five big league seasons. It all finally came together in 2021, when he was fully healthy, and blossomed into the best two-way player in MLB history. Ohtani was rewarded with being the 19th unanimous MVP in MLB history, but was even better in 2022.
Last year, Ohtani was an even better pitcher, and remained one of the best hitters in baseball. It took a monumentally historic season from Aaron Judge to prevent Ohtani from winning back-to-back MVPs, but he'll be looking to win the award again in 2023. And the guys at Bleacher Report think this season will be Ohtani's best yet.
"2023 will be Ohtani's best season yet," Zachary D. Rymer wrote. "If Ohtani can stay healthy, however, he has clear routes to better numbers on both sides of the ball. On the mound, Ohtani is already know for his 100 mph fastball, devastating splitter and equally devastating slider, but not so much for his sinker. Yet that'll change in a hurry in 2023 if he keeps incorporating it like he did at the end of 2022. ...
"The best-case scenario for Ohtani in 2023 includes an ERA even lower than the 2.33 mark with which he finished 2022, as well as an average around .300 to go with 40 home runs. As expectations go, it would be absurd if it wasn't so plausible."
If Ohtani puts together a season like this, there would be almost no way he doesn't win his second MVP Award in three seasons. And if he does, he would become the 33rd player in MLB history to win multiple MVPs, and just the 21st to win two in a three-year span.
As crazy as this all sounds, I think we've learned that we can't put anything past Ohtani.
