Shohei Ohtani named 2023 American League Most Valuable Player
ANAHEIM – RHP/DH Shohei Ohtani today was named the 2023 American League Most Valuable Player in an announcement made by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BBWAA). It marks the second A.L. MVP award for Ohtani, who joins Albert Pujols and Miguel Cabrera as the only foreign-born players to win multiple MVP Awards. Ohtani was also the 2016 Most Valuable Player in Nippon Professional Baseball’s Pacific League.
Ohtani earned all 30 first place votes for a total of 420 points in the balloting process, 156 points ahead of second place finisher Corey Seager of the Texas Rangers (264 points). Ohtani, who also won the 2021 A.L. MVP Award in unanimous fashion, is the 20th unanimous BBWAA MVP Award winner and the first to do so multiple times. The Angels are the first team to have three unanimous MVP Awards (Mike Trout was a unanimous winner in 2014).
As a hitter, Ohtani led the American League in home runs (44), on-base percentage (.412), slugging percentage (.654), OPS (1.066), extra-base hits (78) and total bases (325) in 2023. He became the second player in Angels history to lead the league in home runs, joining Troy Glaus (led A.L. with 47 HR in 2000), and was the only player in the Majors with 5+ triples and 35+ home runs. Ohtani also ranked among A.L. leaders in intentional walks (21; 2nd), triples (8; 3rd), batting average (.304; 4th), runs (102; T-4th), and walks (91; 5th).
As a pitcher, he led the A.L. (min. 130 IP) with a .184 (85/463) opponent batting average and finished the year with a 10-5 record, a 3.14 ERA (132 IP – 46 ER) and 167 strikeouts across 23 starts. Ohtani allowed one-or-fewer earned runs in 13 of 23 starts, pitched his first career shutout on July 27 at Detroit and finished the year with an active streak of 20.2 consecutive innings pitched without allowing an earned run.
For a third consecutive season, Ohtani was selected to the All-Star Game as both a pitcher and position player and was the American League’s leading vote-getter in Phase 1 of fan voting. He joined David Ortiz (2011-13) as the only players to receive three straight All-Star fan elections at designated hitter.
The 29-year-old captures the Angels seventh MVP award in franchise history, following Don Baylor (1979), Vladimir Guerrero (2004), Mike Trout (2014, 2016 & 2019) and Ohtani’s first award in 2021. The Angels are the first team to win five MVP awards in a 10-year span since San Francisco won five straight with Jeff Kent (2000) and Barry Bonds (2001-04) and the first A.L. team since the Yankees won eight from 1954-63 with Yogi Berra (1954-55), Mickey Mantle (1956-57, ’62), Roger Maris (1960-61) and Elston Howard (1963).
The Angel Stadium Team Store now features exclusive Shohei Ohtani “2-TIME MVP” merchandise. Photos of the merchandise are available here. Please credit “Angels Baseball” with the use of any photos.