Every day Shohei Ohtani takes the field, history has the chance to be made.
The Angels' two-way superstar continues to defy expectations for what a player should be able to do as a pitcher and hitter at the same time, and that continued Wednesday in Miami.
Pitching against the Marlins, Ohtani allowed only one unearned run in a 5-2. The start was his fourth straight in which he did not allow an earned run.
"I didn't change much. The most important thing is I made my pitches when I needed to," Ohtani said through a translator, according to The Associated Press. "I think it's huge when we're winning and I'm pitching because I'm part of the ball club."
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The start continued what has been a stellar season on the mound for Ohtani. The Sporting News dives into the numbers behind the most recent example of why he's the sport's most unique star.
Unearned runs streak
Since 1913, when earned runs became an official stat in the American League, there have been 133 four-game spans by starting pitchers (at least 20 innings pitched) in which they have allowed zero earned runs during the same season, according to Stathead.
Of those, Ohtani's 40 strikeouts are the eighth-most. His .132 opponents' batting average is the 26th-lowest. According to Stathead, he is one of only eight pitchers to allow no earned runs and strike out 40 in a span of four games.
| Pitcher | Year | Innings | Strikeouts |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ray Culp | 1968 | 36 | 43 |
| Johan Santana | 2004 | 29 | 41 |
| R.A. Dickey | 2012 | 34.1 | 42 |
| Clayton Kershaw | 2014 | 32 | 44 |
| Clayton Kershaw | 2015 | 34 | 45 |
| Chris Sale | 2018 | 24 | 43 |
| Max Scherzer | 2021 | 29.2 | 41 |
| Shohei Ohtani | 2022 | 26.2 | 40 |
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And Ohtani has been consistent with his bat-missing ways. In each of his past three starts, he has struck out at least 10 batters. In MLB history, only six pitchers have struck out 10 batters and allowed zero earned runs in three straight games, per Stathead:
| Pitcher | Year | Innings | Strikeouts |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ray Culp | 1968 | 27 | 34 |
| Nolan Ryan | 1972 | 30 | 31 |
| John Lackey | 2006 | 24.2 | 30 |
| Clayton Kershaw | 2015 | 26 | 38 |
| Jacob deGrom | 2018-19 | 21 | 34 |
| Shohei Ohtani | 2022 | 20.2 | 34 |
But wait, there's more.
During his start against the Marlins, he also drove in two runs as a batter and stole a base. ESPN reports that he is the only player in history to strike out 10 batters, tally two RBIs and a stolen base in the same game.
Shohei Ohtani is the first player since RBI became official in 1920 to do all the following in a single game:
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) July 7, 2022
- 10 strikeouts as a pitcher
- 2 RBI as a batter
- a stolen base pic.twitter.com/GXmuoaGptt
Ohtani has always been an effective pitcher, but the results from this season are next-level. Here's a look at how this year compares to his past three seasons of pitching, according to Fangraphs.
| Season | Innings | ERA | FIP | K% | BB% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 51.2 | 3.31 | 3.57 | 29.9% | 10.4% |
| 2021 | 130.1 | 3.18 | 3.52 | 29.3% | 8.3% |
| 2022 | 81 | 2.44 | 2.43 | 34.4% | 6.2% |
Baseball Savant lists both his average exit velocity as a batter and his expected weight on-base average (xwOBA) in the 95th percentile. As a pitcher, those percentiles are in the 74th and 91st percentiles.
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Last year, when he won MVP, it was his bat that carried his performance as his fWAR as a batter was 5.1 and his fWAR as a pitcher was 3.0. This year, his batting fWAR is still valuable at 1.6, but his pitching is at 2.6.
Each year, Ohtani finds new ways to dazzle the baseball world. This latest streak of starts is just the latest proof that he's on a different level than everyone else.
