It’s been a fantastic start to the season for Los Angeles Dodgers two-way star Shohei Ohtani, particularly on the mound. With a 0.82 ERA in his first nine starts, Ohtani has cemented himself in the crowded NL Cy Young race.
Despite that, one MLB analyst isn’t overly impressed. Rob Parker of MLB Network recently said, “I’m not overly impressed.”
If there is a common criticism of Ohtani as it relates to the Cy Young race, it’s his workload. He’s only thrown 55.o innings, which isn’t much when compared to Cristopher Sanchez of the Philadelphia Phillies, who has thrown 79.1 innings and didn’t allow a single run in May.
That wasn’t Parker’s issue with Ohtani, though. His issue is the opponents Ohtani has succeeded against. In particular, noting that they’ve struggled offensively this season against everyone.
“Here’s the reason why. Look at who he’s faced. His opponents are fugazi. I get it, he should dominate. He’s only pitched against two teams with a winning record. Even the Padres, which is one of the two teams over .500, they haven’t hit. Manny Machado, [Fernando] Tatis, they haven’t hit. Look at the teams that he’s faced, nobody can hit,” Parker said.
“Everything has to have context. When I look at the nine starts, seven of them have come against Colorado, San Francisco, the bad-hitting Padres.”
Criticizing a pitcher for pitching well against teams in their division is an interesting place to find a complaint. Of course, it’s hard to find a complaint in a two-way star who has won three of four MVPs and is also in the Cy Young race.
John Smoltz Made Bold Claim About Los Angeles Dodgers’ SP Shohei Ohtani
GettyLos Angeles Dodgers pitcher Shohei Ohtani
The Cy Young race is far from over. After all, it’s only June and the National League race is incredibly crowded. However, Shohei Ohtani is firmly in it.
One Hall of Fame pitcher, John Smoltz, won the Cy Young back in 1996. Now working as an analyst, he praised Ohtani recently. That, notably, included declaring the Dodgers star as the favorite to win the Cy Young.
“The Cy Young favorite right now to me is going to be Ohtani, just based on what he’s able to do and the team he’s playing for now,” Smoltz said. “Whether or not he gets the accumulated statistics and innings, that is yet to be determined … The issue is going to come down to individual award versus team accomplishments, and the Dodgers are going to have the luxury to rest guys more than likely at the end of the year, which may hurt individual awards.”
Despite Smoltz advocating for him, Ohtani does still have some major hurdles before he can make room on his trophy case for a Cy Young Award. For one, he’s not the only deserving pitcher around. Secondly, the way the Dodgers use him is going to limit his innings. It’s a gap that will grow in time and be held against him.
Still, as of now, Ohtani has the fourth-best odds to win the Cy Young, at +750. Sanchez is sitting at first, with +170 odds. That’s per FanDuel.
Shohei Ohtani is Making History as a Two-Way Star for the Dodgers
GettyShohei Ohtani hits a home run for the Los Angeles Dodgers
For some time this season, the Dodgers were trying to limit stress on Shohei Ohtani by not using him in the lineup on days when he pitched. However, for his last two starts, he’s gone back into the lineup. In the process, he’s rewarded the Dodgers.
In his most recent start, Ohtani hit a leadoff home run. It was his second game in a row doing that. That came in a game where he didn’t allow a hit in the first six innings, which MLB researcher Sarah Langs brought attention to.
“Shohei Ohtani is the first pitcher with a homer and no hits allowed in the first 6 innings of a game since Jake Arrieta on 9/27/15,” Langs wrote. She also added the full list of players who were able to do that in the last 50 years. It included 5/27/26 Shohei Ohtani, 9/27/15 Jake Arrieta, 4/12/08 Matt Cain, 6/5/06 Carlos Zambrano, 6/14/97 Mark Clark, and 7/14/77 Tom Seaver.”
In his start prior to that one, Ohtani also hit a leadoff home run. In doing so, he became the first pitcher to do so in a regular season game. He had already done it in the postseason, though.
Dodgers SP Shohei Ohtani is Having a Historic Season, Analyst Isn’t Impressed