The Los Angeles Angels’ two-way star Shohei Ohtani was named baseball’s American League Most Valuable Player for the second time on Thursday.
The Japanese standout who dazzles both on the mound and at the plate became the first major league player in history to earn two MVP awards by unanimous vote.
His unanimous MVP in 2021 was followed by a runner-up finish to Yankees slugger Aaron Judge last year.
Ohtani beat out fellow finalists Corey Seager and Marcus Semien of the World Series-winning Texas Rangers despite missing most of the final month of the season with a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his elbow.
Ohtani’s second MVP award comes as he ponders his future as a free agent.
He is widely expected to leave the Angels, who missed the playoffs again despite his exploits.
Plenty of teams will be wooing him, despite the injury that cut short his season. Despite that setback, 2023 was his best campaign so far.
Ohtani led the AL in home runs with 44, in on-base percentage (.412), slugging percentage (.654) and total bases (325).
He hit 26 doubles and eight triples with 20 stolen bases and 95 runs-batted-in.
In 23 pitching starts he went 10-5 with a 3.14 earned-run-average and 167 strikeouts in 132 innings.
He had the lowest batting average against (.184) among all AL pitchers with at least 130 innings.
