JORDAN PURVIS
Special to The Leader
The Los Angeles Angels are off to a great start this season. They currently have a record of 14-7 and lead second in the American League West.
In part of their recent success on the field, it is evident that Shohei Ohtani is the real deal and deserves credit for delivering stellar pitches on the mound, as well as hitting home runs to the geyser rock pile in Angel Stadium.
This past offseason, several teams such as the Chicago Cubs, Texas Rangers, Los Angeles Dodgers, Los Angeles Angels, San Francisco Giants, San Diego Padres and Seattle Mariners expressed their desire to acquire the two-way Japanese star. After numerous meetings, 23-year-old Ohtani decided to sign with the Angels this past December, headlining the biggest acquisition during the Winter Meetings.
Ohtani previously played for the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters of the Nippon Professional Baseball Pacific League. In the past five years in Japan, Ohtani hit 48 home runs, 166 RBIs and had a batting average of .286.
With 21 games into the season, Ohtani is hitting .342 with three home runs and 11 RBIs. On the other hand, on the mound he’s 2-1 with a 3.60 ERA and 19 strikeouts and four walks.
Ohtani isn’t the first Japanese-born player to receive this amount of attention from baseball fans across the United States. Hideki Matsui is notable for playing with the New York Yankees. Through 10 years of playing in the big leagues, Matsui hit .289 with 175 homers and 760 RBIs.
Masahiro Tanaka is another example. He started his career in 2014 and, since then, he’s been 54-30 with a 3.65 ERA and 622 strikeouts.
Lastly, we cannot forget about Ichiro Suzuki. Let’s appreciate the fact that he’s still playing the game of baseball at 44 years old. Suzuki has been in the majors for 18 years now and has received accolades such as Most Valuable Player, Rookie of the Year Award and even a batting title.
Ohtani is just one of the few pieces of the puzzle for the Angels organization. But his presence, whether it’s on the mound or the plate, will help increase the team’s chances of winning games.
The last time the Angels were in the playoffs was in 2014. The Kansas City Royals defeated the Angels in the American League Division Series.
With a newcomer such as Ohtani, as well as existing members like Mike Trout and Albert Pujols, can the Angels be a potential threat to the Houston Astros, the defending champions in the American League West this year?