“Generational talent” is a label that gets thrown around much too casually in sports. It’s a crutch, the kind of broad, prisoner-of-the-moment cliché sports writers—myself included—lazily pass off as analysis. But in the case of Shohei Ohtani, the Angels’ do-it-all slugger who also happens to be their best pitcher (he hasn’t allowed an earned run in his last four starts), it’s not hyperbole to say we’re witnessing a player of historical significance.
Similar to the way Steph Curry revolutionized basketball with his perimeter brilliance, Ohtani has effectively flipped the sport on its head, changing our perception of what’s possible on a major-league diamond. Given what he provides, both as a hitter (his 46 round-trippers last year were the most by an Angel since Troy Glaus in 2000) and a top-of-the-rotation ace with a potent five-pitch mix, Ohtani may be baseball’s biggest bargain at his current $5.3-million salary. Unfortunately, that won’t be the case forever with Ohtani’s upcoming free agency already a hot topic with many wondering what the 28-year-old will fetch on the open market in 2024.
Other than Babe Ruth, whose legacy is survived by a smattering of grainy, black and white videos from the Prohibition Era, there’s no close comp to Ohtani, an unprecedented player who has made a career out of defying expectations, maniacally laughing in the face of logic. Baseball’s highest-paid player at present is Mets veteran Max Scherzer with a $43.1-million AAV (average annual value). Using that figure as a baseline, it’s hard to envision Ohtani, who is almost a decade Scherzer’s junior, settling for anything less than that amount.
In fact, according to FanGraphs (h/t to Buster Olney and Paul Hembekides of ESPN), Ohtani, when factoring in both his offensive and pitching contributions the past two seasons, has been worth a combined $98.4 million. Extrapolated over 162 games—the standard length of a major-league season—that comes out to $65.1 million annually, at least by FanGraphs’ measurements.
It’s a steep price tag, but if anyone is worth that ungodly sum it’s Ohtani, a dual-threat unicorn who may go down as the most unique athlete of his era. The question is whether the Angels, or any other team, for that matter, is willing to allot almost half its payroll to a single player, even if he’s pulling double duty as a pitcher/DH hybrid.
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