Ohtani Shohei unanimously named Major League Baseball's American League MVP
Ohtani became the first player to ever win the award unanimously twice as free-agent decision looms for the World Baseball Classic MVP.
Baseball Softball
Baseball's two-way Japanese star Ohtani Shohei was named the American League’s Most Valuable Player for his second time on Thursday (16 November).
Ohtani collected all 30 first-place votes from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, comfortably beating out Corey Seager and Marcus Semien of the World Series champion Texas Rangers.
Ohtani is the first player to ever win the award unanimously twice.
“Of course I wanted to win the award last year as well but (Aaron) Judge was excellent and this year, too, Seager and Semien had great seasons on their way to the World Series title,” Ohtani said on the MLB Network.
“I wanted to have a season just as good and I was able to win the award, which is special.”
A one of one season
Ohtani, who also won the MVP in 2021, capped off a remarkable year that began with his winning the World Baseball Classic for Japan in which he was named the tournament's best player.
At the plate, Ohtani, 29, batted .304 with 44 homers and 95 RBIs for the Los Angeles Angels, adding 20 stolen bases for good measure. He is the first Asian-born player to win the home run title and led the majors with an OPS of 1.066.
On the mound, he went 10-5 with a 3.14 ERA, striking out 167 in 132 innings despite having his pitching season cut short in late August due to a ligament tear in his right elbow.
Ichiro Suzuki is the only other player from Japan to receive the award, in his rookie 2001 season with the Seattle Mariners.
“I thought I had very good balance with the pitching and hitting. I managed to perform at a higher level than in the past,” Ohtani said. “But the one regret I have is that I couldn’t finish out the season.”
Ohtani was shut down for the year on 16 September after injuring his right oblique during batting practice two weeks earlier. He had elbow reconstruction surgery on 19 September.
Ohtani will not pitch during the 2024 season as he recovers from the operation but will resume his two-way role in 2025.
He is an unrestricted free agent this winter, and is widely tipped to command the largest guaranteed contract in the history of North American sports.
Ohtani spoke on this night for the first time since being diagnosed with the elbow ligament tear, saying he is on good pace to hit next year when he could very well be with a different team in a different league.
“I feel like I’m coming along much better than the first time I had the injury,” said Ohtani, who also had elbow surgery five years ago.
“I think I can head into next season seamlessly so trying not to rush. At the same time, I definitely want to be ready for the start of the new season.”
National League honours went to the Atlanta Braves’ Ronald Acuna Jr, who became the first player in MLB history to have a 40-70 season. He had a .337 batting average, 41 home runs, 106 RBIs and 73 stolen bases. Like Ohtani, Acuna was voted in unanimously.
Boths MVPs won uanimously for the first time ever.