The Los Angeles Dodgers are finally seeing the full extent of Shohei Ohtani’s baseball legend as he continues to ramp up towards a full starting pitching load while also succeeding as the everyday designated hitter.
After five outings this season — his first MLB pitching experiences since August 2023 — Ohtani has totaled just nine innings, but is already showing signs of a return to his elite production from the mound.
All-Star teammate and World Series MVP Freddie Freeman spoke on his teammate’s affection for pitching, despite leading the National League in home runs, slugging percentage, and OPS.
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“I think he loves pitching. I think he loves it — I think he loves it almost more than hitting,” Freeman said. “The way you can control a game on the mound, it’s all about you. I think he loves it. I grew up pitching and I loved it. That was so much fun.
“There’s so much on you. I think he loves that. He’s almost the best hitter in the game and he’s almost the best pitcher in the game. It’s just amazing.”
Freeman, much like the rest of the baseball world, is incredibly impressed by what Ohtani does on the diamond, and later touched on his teammate operating on a seemingly different level than the rest of MLB.
“It’s like he’s in his own league. We all did that in Little League, but he’s doing it in the big leagues. It’s special.”
Through the first half of 2025, Ohtani ranks first in all of baseball with a Win Probability Added score of 4.27. This statistic measures the change in win expectancy and takes the player’s actions into account, similar to WAR. For context, the second-place player on this list is Aaron Judge with a WPA of 3.39.
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Photo Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images
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