In a game in which Shohei Ohtani lowered his earned-run average to 0.74, the race in which he gained the most ground wasn’t for the Cy Young Award.
The four-time most valuable player award winner and two-time home-run leader is now a contender for another major prize.
Ohtani is positioned to make a run at the batting title.
His 3-for-4 night at the plate in the Dodgers’ 7-0 victory over the Diamondbacks raised his season average to .301 – ninth-best in the National League.
At this point, the two-way player might have a better chance of becoming the second batting champion from Japan than he does of becoming the first Cy Young Award winner from his country.
While the Dodgers’ use of a six-man rotation has kept Ohtani from being overworked, it has also placed him at a major statistical disadvantage against the league’s other elite pitchers.
Christopher Sanchez of the Philadelphia Phillies has pitched 86 ⅓ innings in 13 starts and Jacob Misiorowski 71 innings in 12 starts.
Including the six scoreless frames he pitched on Wednesday, Ohtani has logged only 61 innings in 10 starts, one inning short of the threshold to be a qualified pitcher.
Regardless of whether Ohtani is named the NL’s best pitcher, he figures to be a lock to win the league’s MVP award, considering what he’s also done in the batter’s box.
That offensive performance now has Ohtani within striking distance of doing something that was once considered unthinkable — even for him.
Ohtani is a power hitter.
In his first two seasons with the Dodgers, he hit 109 home runs. In the team’s first 62 games this year, he’s homered only 10 times. That doesn’t mean he’s not hitting well.
Ohtani might be underwhelming as a home-run homer, but he’s thriving as a leadoff hitter.
He was batting just .233 on May 11 but has raised his batting average by almost 70 points since then. In his last 19 games as a designated hitter, he’s batting .438.
“He’s swinging at good pitches,” manager Dave Roberts said.
The improved selectivity has been critical for Ohtani, as his patience has been tested by how carefully other teams are pitching to him.
“The pitches that I’m hitting aren’t necessarily fat pitches,” Ohtani said in Japanese. “As a result of that, they don’t go for home runs. But I’m swinging the bat well.”
For his first hit on Wednesday, Ohtani jumped on a 0-2 fastball by former All-Star Zac Gallen along the boundary at the top of the strike zone. Ohtani hit a 107.8-mph rocket at Ildemaro Vargas and the second baseman couldn’t hold on to the ball.
Ohtani singled again in the sixth inning, this time on a 94.5-mph cutter by reliever Taylor Clarke on the inside edge of the plate. He launched another missile, this one at 103.8 mph into right field.
His final hit came in the ninth inning against Ryan Thompson, who threw him a low slider that he redirected into right field.
Along the way, Ohtani mixed in two walks.
His on-base percentage of .420 is the best in the NL, as well as the best of his career.
“He’s hitting for average, he’s getting on base, he’s hitting the ball hard,” Roberts said.
Since coming to the major leagues, Ohtani has always said his stance is the key to everything he does offensively. His stance determines how he sees the pitcher and the pitches that come out of his hand.
“I think I’m pretty much set there,” he said.
However, he pointed out that maintaining a consistent stance is difficult.
“That’s what’s hardest,” he said. “It’s hard to maintain the same stance throughout an entire at-bat. Doing that for an entire game is hard, of course. Doing that over an entire season is the hardest thing.”
If he can, he could join Ichiro Suzuki as the only batting champions from Japan.
Brandon Marsh of the Phillies leads the NL with a .335 average and Otto Lopez of the Miami Marlins is close behind at .332, but neither player has the kind of track record that points to them sustaining this.
Three-time batting champion Luis Arráez is third at .322, but the free-falling Giants are expected to be sellers at the trade deadline, so who knows whether the impending free agent will even finish the season in the NL.
But is Ohtani content hitting like this?
As he’s piled up singles in recent weeks, he’s made it a point to say that he’ll start knocking balls out of the park again once he figures out how to improve his launch angles.
Following his three-hit game, he made clear he wanted to hit for more power when he was asked about his numbers.
“My OPS going up is especially a good thing,” he said. “The numbers are a little OBP-leaning. If my slugging percentage can go up, I think that would be best.”
Ohtani can win the batting title. The question is whether he wants to.
