Shohei Ohtani no longer lives in the same Most Valuable Player neighborhood as Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio, Stan Musial, former teammates Mike Trout and Albert Pujols and a handful of other all-time Major League Baseball greats.
Ohtani was revealed Thursday as the unanimous choice for the National League’s Most Valuable Player award. Not only did the Los Angeles Dodgers’ slugger/pitcher win an MVP for the third year in a row, it marks his fourth award in five seasons.
The 31-year-old Japan native needs just three more to catch Barry Bonds.
Ohtani earned his latest honor after piling up a career-high 55 homers and a league-high 146 runs, .622 slugging percentage and 1.014 OPS in 158 games. He also returned to the mound after taking 18 months off and forged a 1-1 record with a 2.87 ERA in 14 starts. He registered 62 strikeouts versus just nine walks over 47 innings.
“It was a great year,” Ohtani said on MLB Network via translator. “Like I said, I’m grateful to my teammates, the coaching staff…but not only them. The fans were the ones who really rooted us on and supported us.”
Ohtani added eight home runs in 17 postseason games while leading the Dodgers to their second consecutive World Series title, though his playoff exploits did not factor into the voting conducted by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.
Ohtani received all 30 first-place votes – two for each team in the NL.
Philadelphia Phillies designated hitter Kyle Schwarber, who produced a league-high 56 homers and 132 RBIs while playing in all 162 games, finished second in the balloting. He was followed by New York Mets outfielder Juan Soto (43 homers, 38 stolen bases), Arizona Diamondbacks shortstop Geraldo Perdomo (.290 average, 20 homers, 27 steals) and Philadelphia Phillies shortstop Trea Turner (league-leading .304 average with 36 steals).
