OT: Ohtani
 

I know it's April, but Shohei Ohtani is looking pretty good for another MVP. Currently in the 6th in Houston, he's got 11 Ks in 5 perfect innings from the mound and has reached safely three times himself with a run and 2 RBI.

And 11 of the 12 strikeouts have been swinging. Continues to amaze me.

Just struck out his 12th as the first out in the 6th.

His ERA for the year is down to 4.61!!

In case you missed his first two starts.

0-2
ERA
7.56

And he's hitting .216.

Yeah, he's looking like a total bust.

It's meaningless right now, but I think it's also misguided to say he's looking good for MVP.

Well, in the first game, he game up 1 run and struck out 9 in in 4.2 innings. So, one bad inning against the Rangers last week is the reason for most of the ugliness you reference. As for the .216 BA, that was before his 2 for 3 night, raising him to .241. MVP numbers? Not yet. But, man he is exciting to watch when he is "on."

Still happy I was thinking his cards were crazy undervalued when they bottomed out.

Stockpiled a nice selection of PSA 10s at sub 45 bucks each except a purple heritage 10 that was 80 because I just thought it was pretty. Think I’ll be holding that group a while.

I think he’s definitely on his way to being a great if his health holds.

Agree and he may well have another amazing year, numbers to this point are meaningless. Just objecting to the OP's characterization of his season so far.

Clearly has the talent to be a transformative talent in the history of baseball.

If he was on the Yankees they may well have retired his number already.

Probably a very boring guy to discuss on a board that to many is all about finding obscure players that no one else knows about. People will go on and on about some pitcher from 1899 that no one has ever heard of. I get it.

He's definitely unique. Of course the risk factors are his age, his injury history, and the relative unlikelihood (I speculate) he won't both pitch and hit for more than a couple more years. Hugely entertaining and from all appearances a really fine young man too.

Bust my A**, Steve .....give it time and Shohei will deliver

Can't wait until this guy retires!

I also bought many (70-80) Ohtani rookies, well before last season, many being his original 2013 Japanese BBM cards. He is the first player to compel me to buy modern since maybe 1987-1988 (when I was 10-11). Most of his rookies were sub $10, and many were sub $3 and available in bulk.

Since he arrived to the US in 2018, he's been a totally unique talent, 1 of 1. Last year he took it to another level, and his card values followed.

I don't expect he can keep that (2021) up, nor do I expect the spike in values to remain stable. However I also think that no matter what, he will always capture the imagination of fans and collectors alike, both in real time and years from now in hindsight (like Bo Jax, Joe Jax, Ko-fax-- all who carry the "what if?" factor).

As a fan, I absolutely love Ohtani, and don't give a crap if he's hitting .200 or .290. He is absolutely amazing, and if baseball does die in the US, as seems is being discussed, then Ohtani is its best bet it stays alive overseas. Anyone watching him even remotely closely can see and appreciate the uniqueness of his talent and of this moment.

We will see. Good luck to him.

I'm fascinated with the "Ohtani cam" featured on Japanese TV (top right of the screen). Apparently it shows him at all times during the game, even when he is sitting in the dugout!

that is pretty cool what they do but can be a little weird during down times

Oh wow, that is cool but that would not be fun to be him when he picks his nose, etc.

Given baseball's sagging popularity, anything they can do to feed this hyper demand is worth it.

I'm pretty alarmed MLB, ESPN, etc do not do more to market him. I guess Yankees Red Sox is all the qualifies as must watch on Sunday night though.

Trout and Aaron judge are having an amazing year😣

I still think Bo Jackson is in the mix.

agreed that MLB has to do a better job marketing the stars and adding a little more personality into the games.
Very Surprised they do not with the money potential if done right like in other leagues

Have you watched an Angels game? Not exactly compelling.

Trout
 

With time ....ALL good things will happen but give us time to reach the playoffs

I've noticed he's been in more commercials lately. It used to be they'd show him and some guys in the crowd or wherever would talk about him. But he's been in some commercials for a new baseball video game where he speaks quite a bit. And I've got to say, his English has gotten pretty good.

He's hitting .220 with a .270 on base and a 105 OPS+

He has a 4.40 ERA pitching.

I do not say how we can possibly say, with any connection to objective reality, that he is "looking pretty good for an MVP". It's early, he could have a great MVP season. He is not right now.

I'm sure there are guys on the board a lot smarter than me who will explain that a pitcher reasonably projected (after a slow start) to hit about 35 homeruns, 105 RBI, and win 14-15 games is really a bit overhyped.
("Well, in my opinion he's certainly no Abraham Cornelius "Two Way" "Lead Arm" McGinty who played in the Northwestern League in 1884.")

Let see. Right now his batting average is 260. His ERA is 290. He has 15 home runs. I guess he needs to retire right Peter. He's a bum. NOT.

Ohtani in 48 hours tied the record with 8 RBIs in a losing game and getting a personal best 13 strikeouts after yielding singles to the first two hitters and retiring the next 24. And yes there was one walk followed by a double play.

He is playing every day (Trout is not). Currently in a 6 man rotation (?). Whether pitching or batting, he lets the umpire know when he misses a call, with a smile, and he is usually right. He is a joy to watch.

With free agency looming after the 2023 season, keeping Rendon, Trout and Ohtani will be the biggest problem for the Angels.

Count on the Dodgers or Yankees to step up to the plate with their wallets.;)

He doesn't seem to have that many cards with the dual hitter/pitcher theme which is surprising to me. Here's one, first year Japanese card.

A little off topic but in fantasy circles he should be considered two different players. One as a batter, as Ohtani is considered a first or second round player. Second, a pitcher as he is a top 15 pitcher (projections before season begun).

If allowed to be rostered as one player he is by far the overall number one player times 2 over Mike Trout, Betts, Acuna, etc… to be drafted. As a multi player he is a round 2 batter and a round 5 pitcher to be drafted for fantasy purposes.

That train left the station a while back

That's very very cool. Not a real signature unfortunately.

I am not in a fantasy league currently but my friends who are say you can draft Ohtani as a pitcher or a batter. But you can't draft him as a "player" and move him back and forth between your pitching roster and batting roster. You could have him on your team as both but that would take two different picks in the draft.

Yeah it doesn't do much for the card IMO but whatever.

Glad I was able to pick this up fairly cheap many months ago. I think the upside on this card is through the roof.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...1cd4bf6363.png


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This is platform-dependent. On ESPN's platform, he is one player; on Yahoo's he is two.

You are correct...my friends are in a Yahoo league....I should have been more precise.

Love that card. May buy one.