Is 2022 Shohei Ohtani better than 2021 Shohei Ohtani?

When shōhei ohtani He came to the major leagues for the first time after signing with the Angels, and he did so with a title too ambitious, extreme even for Los Angeles: Japan’s Babe Ruth.

It was a flexible, evocative pseudonym, and effective in what he intended to convey. Not only did Ahtani hit and hit the ball, he did both at elite levels. At the same time. We haven’t seen anything like this since Ruth, so everyone accepted the title.

The thing is, it wasn’t just a nickname. Otani not only lived up to the odds, but surpassed them — like an old movie poster someone forgot to delete. Because it no longer makes sense to compare Ohtani with Ruth: no one has shown such distinction as the hitter and bowler at the same time in the majors, not even Ruth. Anyone could point to Negro League stars like Martin Dihigo, Bullet Rogan and Double Duty Radcliffe, but no one in the National or American Leagues.

Understand that this is not to claim that Ohtani is as good as Ruth, whose contributions to the game as an almost legendary hitter. It’s just to admit that while Ruth was the only other player in the National or American Leagues to hit and throw at the All-Star level for a significant amount of time in his career, he didn’t even a babe at one time.

Ruth split significant time between center and show play in only two seasons, 1918 and 1919. Ruth came closest to what Ohtani did in 1918, when he finished seventh in the AL bWAR pitch, 17th in bWAR pitching and fourth overall. Last season, 103 years later and in a much larger MLS, Ohtani ranked 11th in bWAR player position, seventh in bWAR Show and easily led AL overall.

In other words, Ruth’s comparison was great at building anticipation for what Otani had to offer, but it no longer works. There is no comparison to Otani.

or if? Or is he? There is one player that might make sense to compare Ohtani to: himself.