Los Angeles Angels two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani has garnered national acclaim for his All-Star abilities at the plate and on the mound this season. And according to former major leaguer Will Middlebrooks, the 27-year-old's generational, once in a lifetime talent has been nothing short of astounding.
"He throws 100 [mph] and he's leading the league in homers. This doesn't happen. I know I keep saying it, but this just isn't supposed to happen," Middlebrooks told The Zach Gelb Show on Friday. "This doesn't even happen in video games. You have to pick one or the other -- you've got to pitch or you've got to hit. You can't do both. They don't even let you do it in video games! So, this is how rare this is, that we're getting to see a talent like this."
Ohtani, who entered Friday hitting .279 with a league-leading 32 home runs, 54 extra-base hits, and 5.6 WAR, is the first player in the 91-year history of MLB's All-Star Game to make a roster as both a hitter and pitcher. He's also the first player in AL history to reach 30 homers and 10 stolen bases in his team's first 81 games of the season, per Stats by STATS.
As for his numbers on the mound, Ohtani will head into the All-Star break with a 3.49 ERA and 87 strikeouts across 67 innings (13 starts). In his final first-half outing on Tuesday, the former Rookie of the Year completed seven innings of two-run ball against the Boston Red Sox, while also going 1-for-4 at the plate with an RBI double.
On Wednesday against Boston, Ohtani surpassed Hideki Matsui for the most home runs hit by a Japanese-born player in a single season.
"I don't know how long he can keep this up for the year, to be able to do both," Middlebrooks said. "I understand there's going to be a limit to that, eventually. But people are going to talk about what he's doing right now for the rest of time that baseball is a sport."
Ohtani is scheduled to participate in the Home Run Derby at Coors Field on July 12, just one day before making history in baseball's Midsummer Classic.
The entire conversation between Middlebrooks and Gelb can be accessed in the audio player above.
You can follow The Zach Gelb Show on Twitter @ZachGelb and Tom Hanslin @TomHanslin.