(Photo by Meg Oliphant/Getty Images)
Every week, MLB publishes its Hitter Power Rankings.
It’s a nice way to combine expectations and skill with current performance.
There have been some really impressive performers in the past few days, ranging from hitting machine Luis Arraez to Mike Yastrzemski and Josh Naylor.
However, none of them is better or hotter than Los Angeles Angels star Shohei Ohtani.
As a result, the 2021 AL MVP is leading MLB’s Hitter Power Rankings at the moment.
A new set of names enters this week’s Hitter Power Rankings. pic.twitter.com/MC8l11vQ1U
— MLB (@MLB) June 22, 2023
Ohtani seems determined to make 2023 a historic year for himself and for the sport.
He won the World Baseball Classic with Japan and was the MVP of the tournament, and once the MLB season started, he has been performing like a man who is about to earn the largest contract in American professional sports history.
As of Thursday afternoon, he is hitting .292/.377/.616 with 24 home runs and a .993 OPS.
In the last 15 games, however, he has been otherworldly.
Over that span, he has slashed an impressive .370/.493/.944 with nine home runs.
That .944 is not OPS: it’s his slugging percentage in his last 15 contests.
Oh, and he also has a 3.13 ERA in 89 innings.
There is nothing this guy can’t do.
He is on his way to winning his second AL MVP award in three years: there are more than three months to go in the 2023 campaign, but there is also no one who has contributed nearly as much as him.
The best thing of all is that there is a chance we see him in the postseason, as the Angels have a solid 41-35 record.
Baseball deserves postseason Ohtani, and the player definitely deserves October action.
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