There is a player who fits perfectly with the abbreviation “Lee Mat-hyun,” which means that he is wise enough to enjoy this taste. He is Shohei Ohtani (30), the main character of “Idoryu” and “Cartoon Baseball,” who moved to the Los Angeles Dodgers for a 10-year total of 700 million dollars, the highest amount in the history of professional sports last winter.
In the 2024 Major League Baseball home game against the Atlanta Braves at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on the 6th (Korea time), Ohtani played as the second designated hitter, and had a perfect day with four hits from four times at bat, three RBIs and two runs scored. It is the first time that Ohtani has hit multiple home runs since moving to the Dodgers. He is the 17th player in his career.
Amid Ohtani’s strong performance, the Dodgers beat Atlanta 5-1 and achieved a “sweep” that swept all three consecutive games.
The Dodgers and Atlanta are the two teams that are most likely to stage a race for supremacy in the National League this season. Having Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman, the Dodgers added Ohtani to its lineup last winter as an MVP-turned-trio, and also brought Tyler Glasnow and Yoshinobu Yamamoto to its pitching staff to strengthen the lineup. They have established a lineup that can be considered a failure unless they win the World Series.
Atlanta’s lineup is also strong, although it is somewhat behind the Dodgers’ name value. There are many big guns such as Ronald Acuña Jr., who won the National League’s unanimous MVP last season, Matt Olson, Austin Riley, and Marcel Ozuna. Compared to the Dodgers, whose firepower is concentrated in the top hitters such as Betts-Otani-Freeman-Will Smith, some say that Atlanta is one step ahead of the lineup in which Michael Harris III helps the bottom line.
Nevertheless, the first showdown of this season between the Dodgers and Atlanta ended in a sweep by the Dodgers. After winning four consecutive games, the Dodgers solidified its lead in the National League West by posting 23 wins and 13 losses. In contrast, Atlanta, which was dealt a blow to the Dodgers, failed to narrow its gap with the Philadelphia Phillies, the leader in the East Division, by posting 20 wins and 12 losses.
Ohtani, who joined the Dodgers last winter with high expectations, was somewhat sluggish in the early part of this season. He also hit his first homerun in the ninth game of this season after moving to the Dodgers.
Ohtani is not worried. He has already put his name on the top of most of the major batting indicators in the National League, demonstrating in person how powerful he can be if he focuses on batting. Ohtani was also absolutely powerful in sweeping the three consecutive games against the Atlanta Braves. At the three consecutive games against the Atlanta Braves, Ohtani blasted the Atlanta mound by making eight hits from 12 times at bat (three homers) with six RBIs, five runs and two steals.
Ohtani does not have the advantage of being a left-handed pitcher at bat. He hit both of his home runs to left-handed pitchers. He hit a two-run shot against Atlanta ace Max Fried in the first inning, and a wedge-run shot in the eighth inning to Atlanta left-hander A.J. Minter. He pitched a curveball to Fried, and the homerun he garnered was a fastball in the middle.
In particular, the homerun he robbed Minter flew 141 meters at the speed of 110.6 miles. It was the furthest homerun Ohtani hit this season, and the third-longest among all the homeruns he hit in the Major League Baseball.
Thanks to his stellar performance on the day, Ohtani’s performance for this season has drastically increased. His batting average of 0.364 (52 hits in 143 times at bat) is No. 1 in the entire Major League. He is also No. 1 in 10 home runs along with Ohtuna, Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels, and Gunner Henderson of the Baltimore Orioles. OPS, which combines on-base plus slugging percentage, also ranks first overall with 1.111. Ohtani is leading the league in batting average, hits, home runs, slugging percentage, OPS, most hits (98 hits) and most hits (14 hits).
Ohtani once won the MVP of the American League in 2021 and 2023 as a member of the Los Angeles Angels. If this trend continues, chances are high that Ohtani will become the MVP of the National League in 2024. His biggest rival is his Dodgers teammate Betts. As a full-time shortstop this season, he has a batting average of 0.352 with six homers, 27 RBIs, 31 runs and eight steals. Betts, who plays shortstop, is much more advantageous than Ohtani, who does not play defense in the WAR (contributing to victory versus substitute players). Based on baseball reference, he ranks first in the WAR with 3.2. He is the only player with a score of 3.2. Ohtani ranks seventh overall with a score of 2.0.
BY: 스포츠토토