A few days after Shohei Ohtani had his great game in Miami, there was plenty of runoff coverage that we might have missed on Friday. So he’ll lead this Saturday morning collection of Dodgers stories to start our weekend.
First up, a supercut of the first 50 home runs 50 stolen bases this season for Ohtani, from MLB:
Shohei Ohtani’s 50 HR, 50 SB in 50 seconds. ⚡️ pic.twitter.com/PkJWnlxT0P
— MLB (@MLB) September 20, 2024
Sarah Langs at MLB.com dug deep into Ohtani’s historic Thursday and found 11 stats and fun facts.
Beth Harris at Associated Press had more on Ohtani’s incredible first season with the Dodgers.
Pedro Martínez on MLB Network had high praise for Ohtani.
“Ohtani is unique. 6-6, about 220 pounds, can run better than anybody that you can probably find in the big leagues with the exception of maybe Elly De La Cruz,” Martínez said on MLB Tonight. “He has the instincts to steal bases, he has the power to hit homers, he has the ability to hit for average, power, everything. When you want to see a complete player, you talk about Shohei Ohtani.”
Ben Clemens at FanGraphs updated his prediction model to see the chances of Ohtani going even farther, getting to 55-55 or maybe even 60-60 over the final nine games. Those odds are long, but also acknowledged, “Sometimes you just have to marvel at the greatness.”
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Will Smith’s defense was examined by Patrick Dubuque at Baseball Prospectus, who noted the catcher’s dramatic increase in throwing out base-stealers but also a decline in framing.
“Those changes don’t look like much, and that’s just part of the counterintuitive nature of framing; it never looks like that much until you start adding it up,” Dubuque wrote. “Shaving just a single percentage point on the bottom of the zone has had a disastrous effect on Smith’s defensive value.”
Dodgers minor league outfielder Chris Newell, who led the Midwest League in home runs this season and got promoted late in the year to Double-A, talked about a pair of his friends.
With the help of his neighbors, Jimmy and Luke, Chris Newell is finding that life, and baseball, are all about perspective. pic.twitter.com/8vyCeG7lNf
— MiLB Players (@Milb_players) September 18, 2024