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Should Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani, or any full-time DH, win an MVP award?

September 5, 2024

Shohei Ohtani has been a unicorn since he came to MLB in 2018. So why wouldn’t he be unique in this as well?

Ohtani already has two Most Valuable Player awards to his credit – in 2021 and 2023. He spent most of his time as the Angels’ designated hitter in those two seasons but also made 23 starts as a pitcher each year, going 9-2 with a 3.18 ERA in 2021 and 10-5 with a 3.14 ERA in 2023. His unprecedented two-way stardom made him a unanimous MVP selection each year.

Since the designated hitter rule was adopted by the American League in 1973 and full time in the National League in 2022, though, no player who got most of his playing time as a DH – without pitching – has ever won an MVP award.

When Don Baylor won the AL MVP with the Angels in 1979, he started 65 of 162 games at DH, the highest percentage yet for an MVP winner.

Full-time DHs have finished as high as second in the MVP voting four times. David Ortiz came the closest with the Boston Red Sox in 2005. He received 11 first-place votes and finished behind Alex Rodriguez who received 16.

“If he stole 50 bags, he probably would have won it,” Dodgers outfielder Mookie Betts said of ‘Big Papi’s’ near-miss.

And that is the crux of Ohtani’s case to add a third MVP to his trophy case – making him only the second player in MLB history to win one in each league (Frank Robinson won in the National League with the Cincinnati Reds in 1961 then in the American League with the Baltimore Orioles five years later).

“I always thought that (a DH shouldn’t win the MVP award),” said Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman, who made two starts at DH while winning the NL award with Atlanta in 2020. “But the things he’s doing this year, it’s hard to argue against it.”

Already the fastest of six players in baseball history to reach 40 home runs and 40 stolen bases in the same season, Ohtani will enter play Friday with 44 home runs and 46 steals. The Dodgers have 22 games left for him to become the first 50-50 player.

“I think as baseball people it’s hard to view a DH as winning MVP. But you look up and he has a chance to do something no one’s done before,” Freeman said. “I’ve always thought it would be hard for a DH to win. He’s only out there for four or five at-bats (per game). But when you can potentially go 50-50, we might have to re-think that.

“It would be different if someone else playing was having a ridiculous year too.”

Indeed, no clear challenger has emerged to Ohtani in the NL – even as his offensive production has declined in the second half (he is batting .234 since the All-Star break).

New York Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor offers voters (two BBWAA members in each MLB city) an alternative candidate who plays exceptional defense at a premium position. Lindor is on his way to a 30-30 season – but his offensive numbers fall well short of Ohtani’s in every single category.

Ketel Marte was building a case during the Arizona Diamondbacks’ second-half surge, but he has been on the injured list the past three weeks.

Marcell Ozuna of the Braves might be the only candidate who can rival Ohtani’s offensive production. Ozuna has a higher batting average (.305 to .290), a comparable OPS (Ohtani leads .988 to .949) and nearly identical RBI totals (99 for Ohtani to 98 for Ozuna).

Like Ohtani, though, Ozuna hasn’t played an inning in the field this season, starting all 139 of the Braves’ games at DH.

“I’m not for it. But no DH has ever done what he’s done either,” said Betts, who made three starts at DH during his AL MVP season with the Red Sox in 2018. “I just think the best player that helps his team win – whether it’s all offense or all defense, that’s the MVP. The Most Valuable Player, that’s what it is.

“There’s no right or wrong. I do know without him we wouldn’t be where we are now. You can go with whatever you go off of. But I know we wouldn’t be here without him.”

Manager Dave Roberts is certainly aware of Ohtani’s contributions to the Dodgers’ best record in baseball and agrees that a DH could be the MVP.

“I do feel he would have to have that much of a better season than the field,” Roberts said. “It’s the same argument of could a pitcher win an MVP? I put it in that same discussion.”

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One-way players – pitchers – have won the MVP award in both leagues multiple times over the years, most recently Clayton Kershaw with the Dodgers in 2014.

“MVP should be all-encompassing on what is the most valuable. Obviously defense plays a part in that,” Kershaw said of a DH winning the award. “But if you’re that good offensively that you’re more valuable, then I think it’s okay.”

Ironically, Ohtani’s best challenger for this year’s award might have been his teammate – Betts. The runner-up to Atlanta’s Ronald Acuña Jr. a year ago, Betts was having another MVP-level season this year while providing positional versatility on defense. But Betts missed nearly two months after fracturing a bone in his left hand.

“Yeah, for sure,” Betts said when asked if that injury might have robbed fans of a two-man, one-team MVP race in the NL. “That’s always a personal goal. Personal goals don’t really matter. You’d like to get them. But stuff like that, that’s ancillary-type things.

“That would have been cool. But God has his plans.”

Orange County Register

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Should Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani, or any full-time DH, win an MVP award?

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