Shohei Ohtani 2022 OPS: (DH: .906), (DH Pitching: .730 and only two Home Runs in 101 At Bats).

Shohei Ohtani is not a two way player and should not be MVP over Aaron Judge in 2022. Wednesday, October 12, 2022

https://www.mlb.com/news/mlb-rule-changes-for-2022

AMENDED DESIGNATED HITTER RULE: With the Designated Hitter in place in both leagues in 2022, the Official Baseball Rules have also been amended to afford additional flexibility to starting pitchers who bat for themselves.

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So in 2022 for the first time in his career, when Ohtani pitches, he may also bat as DH. And Ohtani did in 2022.

But when Ohtani is only a designated hitter, he still does not play the field. In his entire career Ohtani has played the outfield in 7 games: 8 innings. Zero innings in the field as a non pitcher batter in 2022.

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Using the new 2022 rule made especially for him, Shohei Ohtani batted as Designated Hitter (DH) in the 28 games when he was the starting pitcher but hit much less than the rest of his games when he was a regular DH. The American League OPS in 2022 was .701. Ohtani:

		OPS	PA
2022	DH P	.730	116
2022	DH	.906	546
2021		.965	639

Yet another indication that Ohtani was not a "two way" player.

	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	IBB	SO	HBP	SH	SF	ROE	GDP	SB	CS	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
DH P	116	101	10	26	4	1	2	15	14	1	27	1	0	0	0	1	2	0	.257	.353	.376	.730
DH	546	481	80	133	25	5	32	80	58	13	132	4	0	3	0	5	9	9	.277	.357	.549	.906
PH	4	4	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.250	.250	.500	.750
Total	666	586	90	160	30	6	34	95	72	14	161	5	0	3	0	6	11	9	.273	.356	.519	.875

Plus, his AB/HR was MUCH worse when pitching:

		AB	HR	AB/HR	AB%
2022	DH P	101	2	50.5	17.24%
2022	DH	481	32	15.03125	82.08%
2022	PH	4	0
2022	Total	586	34	17.23529412
2021		537	46	11.67391304

Only two Home Runs in 101 At Bats. Obviously, this meager form of being a "two way" player is the primary reason that Ohtani's HR dropped from 46 to 34.

In his career, Ohtani has zero complete games pitching. In 2022 most of his 28 games as starting pitcher had him remain in the game as DH after he had been removed as pitcher and have a complete game as DH. 

Of course pitching takes much more effort, both physical and mental, than playing the outfield. And maybe Ohtani will adjust in 2023 and close the gap. But so far, he's hardly a two way player. Let him pitch 25 games, DH 25 games and play the outfield 100 games, batting in all 150 games. That would be a two way player of note.

Ohtani v. Ruth revisited, on this, Ohtani's 28th birthday. Tuesday, July 5, 2022