While the Los Angeles Angels are falling apart, Shohei Ohtani’s value is skyrocketing.
There have been reports that he could be worth at least $600 million.
On Aug. 8 (KST), ESPN published an article titled 카지노“Early Rankings for 2023 Free Agency: Ohtani Leads the Top 10,” which evaluated and ranked players who could hit the free agent market later this year.
Not surprisingly, Ohtani was at the top of the list. “Three months ago, when we asked Major League Baseball insiders to estimate the size of Ohtani’s contract, the average length and total value were 11 years and $524.3 million, respectively,” wrote ESPN Insider Kylie McDaniel. “We haven’t done a survey since then, but if we had to guess, we’d say Ohtani, who is still arguably the best player in baseball, could get a contract worth $600 million, including marketing value.
Ohtani hits a single to center field during his first at-bat in the first inning. USATODAYYonline
McDaniel surveyed 26 major league officials, agents and commentators on May 8 about the size of Ohtani’s free-agent contract. McDaniel averaged the responses and came up with an 11-year, $524.3 million contract.
Three months later, Ohtani’s value has skyrocketed, McDaniel said. “Since the survey was conducted, Ohtani has jumped to the top of the WAR leaderboard by a wide margin, despite not playing defense, and has been overwhelmingly positive on the mound,” he said.
As of today, Ohtani is batting .308 (419-for-129) with 40 home runs, 82 RBI, 87 runs scored, a .409 slugging percentage, a .673 on-base percentage, a 1.082 OPS, and 282 RBI. He leads the league in home runs, on-base percentage, OPS, and RBI. On the mound, he has pitched 124⅔ innings in 21 games with a 9-5 record, 3.32 ERA, 160 strikeouts, 1.07 WHIP, and a .186 batting average. He is tied for fifth in strikeouts, first in ERA, and eighth in WHIP.
His WAR is an overwhelming No. 1, with both Baseball-Reference (8.4) and Fangraphs (7.8) ranking him in second place as of the previous day.
Ohtani also reached a historic milestone on this particular day, going 2-for-4 with a home run, a run scored, and a stolen base against the San Francisco Giants. He now has 40 homers and 15 doubles in at least one game in his career. Ohtani stole his 15th base of the season in the first inning when he singled up the middle. He is now 40-15 in 114 games played by the team.
The previous record was 117 games by Ken Griffey Jr. for the Seattle Mariners in 1998. On Aug. 12 of that year, he stole his 15th base of the season against Toronto, kissing the 40-15 mark with 41 home runs.
If Ohtani maintains this pace through the end of the season, he will have 56 home runs and 21 doubles. Only four players in history have gone 50-20: Willie Mays in 1955 (51 homers, 24 steals), Brady Anderson in 1996 (50 homers, 21 steals), Griffey Jr. in 1998 (56 homers, 20 steals), and Alex Rodriguez in 2007 (54 homers, 24 steals).
Angels manager Phil Nevin looks on during a ninth-inning comeback. AFP
Ohtani did not leave the team before the trade deadline last week. The Angels declared that they would keep him through the end of the season. Instead, they made their postseason intentions known by trading with the Colorado Rockies and Kansas City Royals to bolster their pitching staff.
However, the Angels lost to the San Francisco Giants later that day, their seventh straight loss. Coincidentally, they haven’t won a game since the trade deadline. It was another shocking 3-8 loss. Leading 3-2 in the top of the ninth, closer Carlos Estevez gave up five runs on three hits and two walks.
The Angels’ last win came on April 1 against the Atlanta Braves, 4-1. At 56-58, the Angels have fallen further out of contention. The AL wild-card third-place Toronto Blue Jays defeated the Cleveland Indians 3-1 on Sunday behind Hyun-jin Ryu’s four-hit shutout, extending their lead over the Angels to eight games.
The Angels now have to throw in the towel on their postseason hopes. Ohtani’s expression is hardening. He might be thinking about a move in free agency later this year.