The two-way baseball superstardom of Shohei Ohtani these past three seasons has been nothing short of absurd.
Tape-measure homers on the regular. Fastballs that hovered around 100 mph. Sometimes, just a few minutes apart.
In a sports world littered with questionable hyperbole, Ohtani’s on-field heroics lived up to every bit of the hype. It’s why there was a palpable sense of melancholy around the sport after the Los Angeles Angels announced that the 29-year-old Japanese sensation has a torn ligament in his elbow and won’t pitch again this season.
Ohtani planned to seek a second opinion before deciding if he’d have Tommy John surgery for the second time.
“A tough day for him,” Angels general manager Perry Minasian said when the news broke. “Tough day for all of us.”
In retrospect, the absurdity of Ohtani’s performances and ability was only matched by the absurdity to think it could continue forever. There’s a reason the list of two-way baseball superstars is basically a two-man list: Babe Ruth and Ohtani.
Even Ruth didn’t do the two-way thing for long, and that was more than 100 years ago. The Babe was a legit pitcher and hitter in both 1918 and 1919 before becoming a full-time hitter, swatting 714 homers.
Still, with every highlight from the strapping 6-foot-4, 210-pound Ohtani, every effortless double off the wall, every overpowering strikeout, it felt like the limits of human performance didn’t apply. Last month, Ohtani left a game with body cramps and was right back in the lineup the next day, prompting one beat writer to write that “maybe they just updated his software overnight.”
But even machines break down eventually.
Ohtani will still be a coveted free agent this winter — maybe the most coveted in baseball history — but there’s little doubt the injury could cost him millions (and millions) of dollars. Some around the sport thought he might be baseball’s first $500 million man before the injury.
Now, something in the neighborhood of Aaron Judge’s $360 million, nine-year deal seems a better baseline, though Ohtani has the added benefit of being a truly international icon. There aren’t many people who can match Judge as a hitter, but Ohtani is in that discussion.
And there’s also the possibility that Ohtani returns to the mound. He’s certainly defied expectations before.
But here’s the truth: The list of successful pitchers following multiple Tommy John surgeries is pretty short. Nathan Eovaldi, Jameson Tallion, Jason Isringhausen and Daniel Hudson are a handful who have had success. Current Dodgers star Walker Buehler — who recently had his second TJ surgery — hopes to join that group.
Anything Ohtani brings on the mound over the next several seasons has to be considered a bonus.
It still feels like there will be several teams willing to fork over an MLB-record deal to sign Ohtani. Even if he’s purely a hitter, there’s every reason to believe several more 40-homer seasons are on the horizon. It’s also fair to wonder if those hitting numbers could keep improving if he doesn’t have to pitch once a week. Plus, Ohtani is athletic enough to be a stellar defensive outfielder, if he ever decided to go that direction.
