‘Freak of nature’: Inside Shohei Ohtani’s career-best start to his first Dodgers season
On the first day of spring training, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts began drawing a lofty parallel.
Barry Bonds, Roberts said, “was the most talented player I’ve ever played with.”
Shohei Ohtani, he then predicted, “probably has a chance to be the most talented player to ever play the game of baseball.”
During a trip to San Francisco last week, Roberts witnessed the comparison in real life.
Back in the ballpark Bonds once called home, a stadium where Roberts has seen hundreds of games as a player and manager, the Dodgers’ skipper turned his gaze skyward after a thunderous Ohtani swing. His slugger had just clubbed a home run 446 feet with a blistering 113.4-mph exit velocity.
Roberts’ mind, however, could think only one thing.
“That’s Barry territory,” he said of a home run that cleared the towering right-center field bleachers at Oracle Park, landing just short of a splash down in McCovey Cove. “There aren’t too many guys that can do that.”
Then again, there aren’t too many players capable of having the kind of season Ohtani is having nearly 50 games in, a performance that is redefining the limits of his generational ceiling.
Entering Saturday, Ohtani was off to the best two-month start of his MLB career.
He was leading the majors in batting average (.358), slugging percentage (.676) and OPS (1.102), holding career highs in each statistic. He had 13 home runs, 11 stolen bases and 32 RBIs, putting him on pace for the first 45/35/100 season in MLB history.
Then again, there aren’t too many players capable of having the kind of season Ohtani is having nearly 50 games in, a performance that is redefining the limits of his generational ceiling.
Entering Saturday, Ohtani was off to the best two-month start of his MLB career.
He was leading the majors in batting average (.358), slugging percentage (.676) and OPS (1.102), holding career highs in each statistic. He had 13 home runs, 11 stolen bases and 32 RBIs, putting him on pace for the first 45/35/100 season in MLB history.
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