Shohei Ohtani accomplishes feat that hasn't been achieved in almost 100 years

BarDown Staff

Shohei Ohtani , (Getty Images/Jayne Kamin-Oncea)

Who’s the most versatile player in the league?

Last year you’d probably go to a jack-of-all-trades type of player like Brock Holt or Steve Pearce, but this year it isn’t even close. Shohei Ohtani has developed into the ultimate baseball player. While some pitchers are okay at swinging the bat, like Madison Bumgarner for example, Ohtani swings the bat so well he’s often slotted into the Los Angeles Angels lineup. Not only that, he’s been doing it at an elite level.

Ohtani took a no-hitter into the 7th against the Oakland Athletics, and ended up being awarded the win in what turned out to be a 6-1 Angels victory. It marks his second win as the season.

At the plate, Ohtani is fairing just as well. The Japanese-born Angel is swinging a hot bat to the tune of a .389 average to go along with three homers and seven RBIs. Only four players have hit more home runs this year.

Put those two stat lines together and you have a very special, very unique player. In fact, it’s been almost a century since a player has enjoyed that much success both at the plate and on the mound.

Shohei Ohtani today tries to become the first major leaguer with 2 wins and 3 HR in his team's first 10 games since Jim "Grunting Jim" Shaw for the 1919 Senators. Shaw hit 4 career HR. #Angels
— Bill Shaikin (@BillShaikin) April 8, 2018

That is some seriously impressive production, but can we also just stop for a second to talk about how great a nickname “Grunting Jim” is? Apparently the Washington Senators pitcher made a distinctive grunting noise each time he pitched, which landed him the self-explanatory nickname.