A couple of months ago, a friend and I were discussing the MVP award winner. My friend asked me whether Shohei Ohtani would win the AL MVP award again. Well, I thought Aaron Judge would win the award. Eventually, the 2022 AL MVP award winner is Aaron Judge and Ohtani finished 2nd in the 2022 AL MVP voting.
Ohtani didn’t win the 2022 AL MVP award. But, we can’t ignore his great 2022 season. As a batter, he slashed .273/.356/.519 with 34 home runs and 95 RBI. On the mound, Ohtani made 28 starts and he owned a great 2.33 ERA and a 1.01 WHIP over 166 innings. Opponents only hit .203 against Ohtani in 2022. Moreover, he threw 219 strikeouts, which is his career-high.
Now, no one will doubt that Ohtani is a great two-way player and we might just witness one of the best baseball players of all-time. Meanwhile, lots of people compare Shohei Ohtani and Babe Ruth.
While looking at stats of these two great players, I found something interesting.
Ohtani tossed 166 innings in 2022 and he has shown that he’s one of the most dominant pitchers in the majors. Back in 1918, Babe Ruth threw 166.1 innings. In that season, Ruth made 19 starts and 1 relief appearance. He did pitch well with a great 2.22 ERA and a 1.05 WHIP. But, we can see the major difference is that Ruth had 18 complete games in 1918. That truly tells us that pitcher usage is not the same as it used to be.
Additionally, Babe Ruth hit .300/.411/.555 with 11 home runs and 66 RBI in 95 games in 1918.
Well, I don’t know whether there’s a coincidence. But, a season with “166” innings pitched certainly helped these two players begin to write a new chapter of their careers. In 1918, Babe Ruth tossed 166.1 innings. He earned 13 wins and crushed 11 home runs. In 2022, Shohei Ohatni threw 166 innings. He got 15 wins and blasted 34 home runs. By far, they are the only two players in major league history to have at least 10 home runs and 10 wins in the same season.
In 1918, it was the last time that Babe Ruth earned 10+ wins in a single season and it was his first time to hit 10+ home runs in a single season. After the 1918 season, he spent most of his time as a batter and baseball fans surely know that Babe Ruth blasted more than 700 home runs in his legendary career. In 2022, it’s the first time that Shohei Ohtani got 10+ wins in a single season. Well, we don’t know the Angels’ plan on Shohei Ohtani in 2023. However, after tossing a career-high 166 innings in 2022, is he going to spend more time on the mound? Perhaps, the optimal way for Ohtani might be to pitch around 166 innings each season and have 600+ plate appearances. Well, let’s see whether Ohtani will do it again, 10+ wins and 10+ home runs.
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