Shohei Ohtani is increasingly becoming known as the unicorn of baseball. That is because of his propensity to both hit and pitch at an elite level. Baseball fans have not seen someone do that so spectacularly since Babe Ruth over 100 years ago. Even Ruth pretty much did both at different times of his career.
On Tuesday night, Tampa Bay Rays catcher Christian Bethancourt caught the game, hitting ninth. He finished 2-for-4 with a three-run home run in an 11-1 win over the Los Angeles Angels. Bethancourt also tossed a scoreless ninth inning in relief.
Prior to Wednesday's game, Bethancourt spoke with the media and paid homage to Ohtani.
"Now I know what it feels like to be (Shohei) Ohtani." 🤣
Christian Bethancourt talks about what it was like being a 2-way player last night.
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“Hit a homer, catch a great game, and throw a scoreless inning,” he said smiling. “Now I know what it feels like to be Ohtani… I was just throwing fastballs, ones slower than other ones… I was trying to get up to 100 (miles per hour) but I have some work to do,” Bethancourt said jokingly.
Even though he can joke about it, it's no joke what Shohei Ohtani is doing.
Ohtani won the 2021 American League MVP Award, joining Ichiro Suzuki as the only other Japanese born player to win the award.
This season, he has not been quite as dominant. But is still arguably more valuable than anyone in baseball because he goes both ways. As a pitcher, he is 10-8 with a 2.83 ERA, 1.10 WHIP and 167 strikeouts in just 121 innings pitched. All of those rank among the league leaders.
As a hitter, Ohtani's power has come back to Earth a bit. The year after hitting 46 home runs to go with 103 runs and 100 RBI, the legendary Angel has just 27 jacks this season.
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