Geez, I know he knows this but his continued comparison of Babe Ruth and Shohei Ohtani basically ignores the fact that whenever Ruth pitched or played as a non-pitcher, the Babe played the field. Ruth didn't sit in the dugout and make four brief appearances to bat. People are amazed at the physical difficulty faced by Ohtani in having to be a designated hitter (DH) and also pitch in other games. Are you kidding? The physical mess David Ortiz was a DH.
On MLB Network Brian Kenny continues to state that Ruth did both for only three months. Brian, send me a Candygram when Ohtani does it ever. Ohtani is a bloody DH! Geez, come on. How difficult can that be physically?
Brian Kenny also mentions that Babe Ruth didn't hit that well when he was only a pitcher. Brian, the Babe was learning to hit as an additional task while he was a very successful full time pitcher.
Ohtani arrived in MLB in 2018 from Japan as an experienced hitter and pitcher. What Ohtani is doing in 2021 is amazing, especially the hitting, which is much more difficult. Ohtani leads MLB with 32 home runs, one more than any Japanese born player has ever hit in MLB. Yankee Hideki Matsui hit 31 in 2004. Matsui played the outfield in 2004 and did not DH at all that season. Matsui played ten seasons in MLB: 2003-2012. In 2008 at age 34 Matsui transitioned to DH. Ohtani turned 27 on July 5, 2021.
Prior to this season when Ohtani pitched he didn't bat. Now in 2021 when Ohtani pitches, he sometimes bats. Except for six innings in the outfield, in his other games Ohtani is just a DH. Basically, he's a golfer who doesn't even walk the course.
I was skeptical but in 2021 Ohtani has won me over. He can hit ... as a DH. And pitch.
Shohei Ohtani (like Babe Ruth can pitch and hit) could be fun to manage. Saturday, November 12, 2016
Finally, how would an American team use Ohtani?
National Conference (NC):
- pitchers bat, no designated hitter (DH)
- Ohtani would have to play the field in NC games.
American Conference (AC):
- when pitching Ohtani's team would have to forego the DH for the entire game, even after Ohtani had been removed ... but they could move Ohtani to another position so that he could bat again and maybe even come back to pitch. Hey, this could be fun.
- when not pitching, DH ... unless playing in NC park; see above.
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Shohei Ohtani: Babe Ruth or not even Zelous Wheeler/Kei Igawa? Tuesday, November 28, 2017
If Ohtani plays in the Major League in 2018, that will be exactly 100 years since Ruth led the league in home runs for the first time: tied Tillie Walker at 11...
Pitchers from Japan have succeeded in the U.S. Major League but not many hitters and Matsui seems to be the only slugger and Matsui was not a big time home run hitter in the U.S. Major League.
If Shohei Ohtani continues to divide his energy and concentration, he may fail at both. Hitting is by far the most difficult skill and Ohtani is not likely to be an impact Major League hitter. Ohtani is more likely to be a Major League pitcher.
If Shohei Ohtani is another Babe Ruth, that would be a great story that I'd like to see as much as anyone, especially if Ohtani plays for the Yankees. However, I'm not drinking the Kool-Aid.
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Shohei Ohtani rejects Yankees and Red Sox. Now they can stop drinking the Kool-Aid. Monday, December 4, 2017
Shohei Ohtani as Designated Hitter (DH)? Is this a joke? And yet the current Kool-Aid inspired conventional wisdom seizing baseball management and fans alike is that this 23 year old player in Japan can come to the USA and do what only Babe Ruth did a century ago: be successful, even great, at both pitching and hitting.
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Shohei Ohtani: would he bat more with a National League team? Anyone see him bat against a lefty? Tuesday, December 5, 2017
Conventional wisdom can be really boring, especially when it's fragile. For Shohei Ohtani, it consistently holds that he would be better off playing for a American League team since the National League does not use the designated hitter (DH) rule. That assumes that Ohtani is a good enough hitter to be a DH. I doubt that he is. Therefore, he might very well get more plate appearances being a pitcher on a National League (NL) team.
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Ohtani: better than Darvish or Tanaka ... in Japan? Wednesday, January 31, 2018
The most likely scenario is that the best that can reasonably be expected of Ohtani is that he will be a competent fourth or fifth starting pitcher. I've already explained anecdotally why Ohtani will fail as a hitter in the U.S. major league...
Obviously, both Darvish and Tanaka were better pitchers in Japan than Ohtani, even through age 22.
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Shohei Ohtani over/under: 100 innings, 50 PA in major league in 2018? Thursday, February 15, 2018
Shohei Ohtani, after the latest media nonsense, brought this to mind. In 2018 not only is he unlikely to bat much but he may not even pitch much...
I'd go under on both.
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Note: Ohtani in 2018: 367 PA, 51.66 innings
Shohei Ohtani is two players. What if one needs to be sent down? Friday, February 16, 2018
Shohei Ohtani could be two players: a starting pitcher and a designated hitter (DH)/outfielder. His Angels team hopes that Ohtani is both in the starting rotation and their primary DH.
But what if, through either injury or performance, one but not both Ohtanis needs to be sent down to a minor league team? It could mean that the Angels would lose two starting players. The bad/injured Ohtani could drag the good/healthy Ohtani down with him.
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Note: Ohtani in 2019 had 425 PA (OPS+ dropped from 151 to 119) but did not pitch.
How much did Babe Ruth pitch and bat at the same time? Monday, April 9, 2018
The DH rule started in the old American League back in 1973. The old National League never adopted it. So when Babe Ruth was a full time pitcher for the Boston Red Sox in 1915, 1916, 1917 Ruth would bat in all games in which he pitched. Ruth never played another position until 1918 when he led the AL in home runs for the first time with 11, tied with Tillie Walker, who had been Ruth's teammate the previous two years and was playing center field for the Philadelphia Athletics in 1918...
in 1918 and 1919 the schedule was shortened because of U.S. involvement in the first World War. The Red Sox played these number of games during Ruth's years with them:
1914 91-62 (2) = 153
1915 101-50 (1) = 151
1916 91-63 (1) = 154
1917 90-62 (2) = 152
1918 75-51 (1) = 126
1919 66-71 (6) = 137 ...
Ruth clearly transitioned from a full time starting pitcher through 1917 to being mostly a non-pitcher. Ruth's percentage of team games played in 1918 went from under 30% to 60%, more than double. Then in 1919 Ruth played in 97% of Red Sox games. He also set a new season record for home runs: 29...
Let's see how Ohtani progresses. What initially seemed to me to be a bit of a joke is now interesting. However, I still think there's a reason there's been only one Babe Ruth, however you interpret his dual role as a great pitcher turned great hitter.
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Babe Ruth batting order position when pitching. Tuesday, April 10, 2018
Babe Ruth played for the Red Sox full time 1915-1919, plus a few games in 1914. Ruth was a pitcher exclusively 1915-1917 and did not play any other position those seasons. In all his starts 1915, 1916, 1917 Ruth batted 9th. However, in 1918 Ruth pitched less as he transitioned to the outfield primarily...
In both 1918 and 1919 Ruth batted fourth in the overwhelming majority of his starts. However, amazingly, Ruth still batted 9th in some pitching starts, including 1919 when he broke the season home run record with 29.
1918: batting order position for 19 pitching starts:
4 - 11
7 - 1
9 - 7
1919: batting order position for 15 pitching starts:
4 - 13
9 - 2
So there is inexplicable precedent for the Angels batting Ohtani 8th as DH. Where will he bat in his pitching games in a National Conference park where teams cannot have a DH?
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Would changing the Designated Hitter Rule from starting pitcher to any player help Shohei Ohtani? Saturday, April 28, 2018
... it should never have been restricted to the pitcher. Even way back when it first started in the old American League in 1973 it obviously did nor allow for a Babe Ruth, someone who could excel at both pitching and hitting...
This seemed irrelevant until 2018 when Shohei Ohtani came to the U.S. from Japan to attempt to excel at both pitching and hitting, i.e., to be another Babe Ruth. So far Ohtani has succeeded. His team the Angels could petition to have the unnecessary restriction removed so that in 2019 Ohtani can bat when he is the starting pitcher in American Conference parks without his team losing the DH.
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Ruth and Ohtani work loads at age 23 one hundred years apart. Thursday, June 7, 2018
Babe Ruth and Shohei Ohtani: 100 years apart starting pitchers and batters in games when not pitching...
Ohtani is often his team's DH in his non pitching games but has not batted in his pitching games. Because there was no DH in 1918 Ruth batted in his pitching games.
Note: this link contains detailed data for the first 63 games for each.
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Ruth and Ohtani: hitters who could pitch, not pitchers who could hit. Aaron Judge could, too. Monday, December 31, 2018
Ohtani was never all that full time in Japan:
Year PA, Innings
2013 204, 61
2014 234, 155
2015 119, 160
2016 382, 140
2017 231, 25 ...
So why don't others excel or even do both? Because if you can hit, you hit. If you cannot hit, you pitch. It's pretty basic. Pitchers do not need good eyesight or hand-eye coordination. They need only one of the five traditional skills and are not rated on the others...
Aaron Judge plays right field and has a cannon of an arm. I'm guessing that he could at the very least blow hitters away for an inning or two. But since hitting is by far the more difficult skill, Judge did not waste time and concentration trying to do both.
Ohtani seems to not have been able to make up his mind and he has been coddled and accommodated, both in Japan and in the USA...
Shohei Ohtani needs to make up his mind and concentrate on one side of the ball, probably hitting. The rest of us need to grow up.
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Ruth and Mantle played more than Ohtani and Judge. Friday, June 18, 2021
Check Ruth's 1919 game logs yourself but as an example ...
He played the day before and after this doubleheader: Boston Red Sox at Philadelphia Athletics, May 30, 1919. He played all ten innings in game two and pitched a complete game victory in game one. Ruth batted fourth in both games. There was no DH in 1919. Ruth broke the season home run record in 1919, his last Red Sox season. It was his final season with more than a couple of games pitching: 133 innings in 17 (15 starts) games...
Aaron Judge 502 PA once. Mickey Mantle 14 times. Career: Judge 1,923; Mantle 9,910. Wednesday, April 28, 2021
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