MLB Future Betting: Shohei Ohtani AL MVP for second year in a row.
Shohei Ohtani continues to light up the baseball world and is now the odds-on favorite to take home the AL MVP for the second year in a row.
MLB Future Betting: Shohei Ohtani AL MVP for second year in a row.
For the first few months of the 2022 MLB season it looked like New York Yankees right fielder Aaron Judge would run away with the American League MVP Award. However, Los Angeles Angels Swiss Army Knife Shohei Ohtani AL MVP has been carving up hitters and blasting baseballs into the atmosphere.
As it stands now, Ohtani is the odds-on favorite at -105 to win his second consecutive AL MVP Award and has continued to change our perception of what’s possible on a baseball field.
Pitching on Another Level
Shohei Ohtani AL MVP was coming off a solid year of pitching in 2021, posting a 3.18 ERA with 156 strikeouts in 130.1 innings pitched, but he has stepped up his performance on the mound this season.
Currently, Ohtani has a 2.38 ERA, 123 strikeouts, a 0.98 WHIP and a 3.2 WAR in 87 innings pitched. Ohtani has been otherworldly in his last six starts, carrying a 0.45 ERA and striking out 58 batters in 39.2 innings.
Frankly, we’ve never seen anything like this before and it continues to be more unbelievable as the season goes on. His slider and splitter have been deadly, with batters hitting .156 and .123 against them, respectively.
To add onto his pitching performance, Ohtani has added velocity to almost every pitch which has led to some career-high whiff percentages.
His production has catapulted him into the AL Cy Young Award conversation at +700 odds, which puts him with the third-best odds behind Tampa Bay Ray Shane McClanahan and Houston Astro Justin Verlander.
Still Mashing
Ohtani may not be on pace to hit as many home runs as he did last year, but he’s still been lighting it up at the plate and has had to help carry the Angels offense.
On the season, Shohei Ohtani AL MVP is hitting .258 with 84 hits, 56 RBIs and 19 home runs while carrying a .843 OPS. He’s struggled against offspeed pitches more than usual, hitting .180 compared to .240 last year. However, Ohtani has done a better job at identifying breaking balls. Last year he hit .239 against breaking balls, compared to .303 this season.
It’s no secret that the Angels have been struggling for the past few months and Ohtani and Mike Trout have had to will the Angels to some of their wins.
With the pair sticking out like a sore thumb on the Angels, we got this beauty of a tweet that encapsulates what it’s like to watch an Angels game.
Ohtani has been doing things that we have never seen before or things that haven’t been done in at least a century. He’s one of the most gifted baseball players we’ve seen in some time, so it’s no surprise that he’s on his way to winning his second consecutive AL MVP Award.
