It's time to look back in wonder at Shohei Ohtani's first month in MLB
Shohei Ohtani has been a Major Leaguer for a month, but it feels like he's brought us much more than a month's worth of joy and wonder. Let's take a moment to look at Ohtani's big league career through May 1:
Ohtani (Sho-bae? The Say Hei Kid?), who won the 2016 NPB Home Run Derby, has four dingers so far this season. Let's watch the one he hit off two-time Cy Young Award winner
Over 12 games, Ohtani is slashing .341/.383/.682, with an OPS of 1.065. Just for kicks, let's compare him to his teammate
Now, this isn't proof that Ohtani, like the Fish God, will win Rookie of the Year. It's just 12 games! But, it's definitely a start.
Let's take a look at what he's been doing on the mound.
In his first start, he pitched six innings and gave up three earned runs, including one homer. In his second … well, you probably know.
This begs the question: What's going to happen in May? We've already seen Ohtani throw 101 mph -- will we need to build a pitch velocity filter for him one day, too? There are plenty of Cy Young Award-winning pitchers he has yet to face. Why not speculate wildly about Ohtani's future?