Sports

Ohtani Named 2023 American League Most Valuable Player

ANAHEIM — RHP/DH Shohei Ohtani on Nov. 16 was named the 2023 American League Most Valuable Player in an announcement made by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BBWAA).

It marks the second A.L. MVP Award for Ohtani, who joins Albert Pujols and Miguel Cabrera as the only foreign-𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐧 players to win multiple MVP Awards. Ohtani was also the 2016 Most Valuable Player in Nippon Professional Baseball’s Pacific League.

Ohtani earned all 30 first-place votes for a total of 420 points in the balloting process, 156 points ahead of second-place finisher Corey Seager of the Texas Rangers (264 points).

Ohtani, who also won the 2021 A.L. MVP Award in unanimous fashion, is the 20th unanimous BBWAA MVP Award winner and the first to do so multiple times. The Angels are the first team to have three unanimous MVP Awards (Mike Trout was a unanimous winner in 2014).

As a hitter, Ohtani led the American League in home runs (44), on-base percentage (.412), slugging percentage (.654), OPS (1.066), extra-base hits (78) and total bases (325) in 2023.

He became the second player in Angels history to lead the league in home runs, joining Troy Glaus (led A.L. with 47 HR in 2000), and was the only player in the Majors with 5+ triples and 35+ home runs.

Ohtani also ranked among A.L. leaders in intentional walks (21; 2nd), triples (8; third), batting average (.304; fourth), runs (102; T-fourth), and walks (91; fifth).

As a pitcher, he led the A.L. (min. 130 IP) with a .184 (85/463) opponent batting average and finished the year with a 10-5 record, a 3.14 ERA (132 IP – 46 ER) and 167 strikeouts across 23 starts.

Ohtani allowed one-or-fewer earned runs in 13 of 23 starts, pitched his first career shutout on July 27 at Detroit and finished the year with an active streak of 20.2 consecutive innings pitched without allowing an earned run.

For a third consecutive season, Ohtani was selected to the All-Star Game as both a pitcher and position player and was the American League’s leading vote-getter in Phase 1 of fan voting. He joined David Ortiz (2011-13) as the only players to receive three straight All-Star fan elections at designated hitter.

The 29-year-old captures the Angels’ seventh MVP Award in franchise history, following Don Baylor (1979), Vladimir Guerrero (2004), Mike Trout (2014, 2016, 2019) and Ohtani’s first award in 2021.

The Angels are the first team to win five MVP Awards in a 10-year span since San Francisco won five straight with Jeff Kent (2000) and Barry Bonds (2001-04) and the first A.L. team since the Yankees won eight from 1954-63 with Yogi Berra (1954-55), Mickey Mantle (1956-57, ’62), Roger Maris (1960-61) and Elston Howard (1963).

The Angel Stadium Team Store now features exclusive Ohtani “2-Time MVP” merchandise. Photos of the merchandise are available here:

Related Posts

Superb Scotland blunt Joe Schmidt’s Wallabies to end tourists’ grand slam dream

The Wallabies are still waiting for their first Home Nations grand slam since 1984 after they were outplayed by an outstanding Scotland side, going down 27-13 at Murrayfield….

Jones to love ‘pantomime villain’ role against England

Eddie Jones will be happy performing the role of pantomime villain when he plots England’s downfall at Twickenham, according to prop Ellis Genge. Former Wallabies boss Jones faces…

‘You’re only human’ – Warren Gatland admits negativity in Wales has had an impact on him

Warren Gatland said he remains “motivated” for his job as head coach and has a desire to stay in charge after Wales suffered a 12th successive Test match…

‘Frustrating day’: ‘Sloppy’ All Blacks edge past Italy as Cane, Perenara wave goodbye

Fourteen months after New Zealand smashed Italy 96-17 in Lyon, the All Blacks had to work much harder for their win against their European rivals after managing a…

Springboks manhandle woeful Wales to complete Autumn Nations Series sweep, piling more pressure on Warren Gatland

South Africa cruised to a predictably emphatic 45-12 victory over struggling Wales to finish their Autumn Nations Series campaign on a high note on Saturday. Tries from Franco…

New Zealand beat Italy in Cane’s Test farewell

New Zealand saw off a battling Italy 29-11 on Saturday in their final match of the year as Sam Cane was given a winning farewell to international rugby…

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *