Shohei Ohtani [US, Mexico & Canada customers only] March 20, 2024; Seoul, SOUTH KOREA; Los Angeles Dodgers player Shohei Ohtani reacts after playing against the San Diego Padres during a MLB regular season Seoul Series game at Gocheok Sky Dome. Mandatory Credit: Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters via USA TODAY Sports
MLBBy Arthur Weinstein on

Shohei Ohtani set an MLB milestone and likely had the greatest game of any player in baseball history Thursday.

He also prompted media sleuths to dig up some freezing cold takes about Ohtani from the past, made by skeptics who mocked him as “over-rated,” “a high school hitter” and a “pinch-hitter.”

Ohtani could not be stopped Thursday against the Miami Marlins, hitting three home runs, with six hits in six at-bats, along with 10 RBIs. He now has 51 home runs and 51 steals, making him the first player in the 50-50 club.

Ohtani’s performance this season is probably more than even the Dodgers dreamed of when they signed him to a record 10-year, $700 million contract last December. He’s expected to return to the mound next season, where he’s a potential Cy Young winner.

In short, Ohtani is one of the greatest MLB players in history, and the case against him being the clear-cut, obvious No. 1 choice becomes harder to make almost by the day.

Hard to believe many people had doubts about Ohtani when he came over from Japan in 2018. For our amusement today, many of these skeptics left receipts. Mike Francesa noted in 2018 on Mike & the Mad Dog, “The Yankees are lucky they didn’t get Ohtani.”

In March 2018, the Sporting News ran an Ohtani story it posted on Twitter with a quote from a scout: “He’s basically like a high school hitter.” The story promo noted, “MLB scouts believe Shohei Ohtani won’t be able to hit big-league pitching.”


Keith Olberman whiffed badly on an Ohtani take.

Ohtani will be a pinch-hitting pitcher by mid-season,” he tweeted in March 2018.


The bad takes weren’t limited to Ohtani’s rookie season. In 2022, San Diego radio host Jon Schaeffer got animated talking about praise for an Ohtani home run, and said, “I think he’s (Ohtani) one of the most overrated players in the history of professional sports in America”


And even some leading experts were way wrong about Ohtani.

Bill James, the noted baseball historian and analyst who popularized the use of analytics in the sport, took a look at Ohtani’s good-but-not-great 2019 season and remarked, “You remember how, a year ago, everybody was all excited about Shohei Ohtani being the next Babe Ruth? It was fun while it lasted.”

[Funhouse]

About Arthur Weinstein

Arthur spends his free time traveling around the U.S. to sporting events, state and national parks, and in search of great restaurants off the beaten path.

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