Two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani has been voted the Most Valuable Player in the American League for 2023, per an announcement from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Corey Seager and Marcus Semien of the Rangers were second and third in the voting, respectively.
The news hardly comes as a surprise, with Ohtani having delivered another two-way season for the Angels in which the only precedent was himself. He made 23 starts as a pitcher, tossing 132 innings with an earned run average of 3.14. His 10.4% walk rate was a bit on the high side but he struck out 31.5% of batters faced. Among pitchers with at least 130 innings pitched on the year, only Spencer Strider punched out opponents at a greater rate.
As a hitter, he launched 44 home runs and drew walks at a 15.2% clip. His .304/.412/.654 batting line translated to a wRC+ of 180, indicating he was 80% better overall than the average hitter. He accomplished all of these things despite having his season cut short by injury. Due to some finger issues and then a torn UCL, he only tossed 1 1/3 innings after August 9 and not at all after August 23. He continued hitting but he later suffered an oblique strain and his last game as either a hitter or pitcher was September 3.
That didn’t matter as Ohtani had already racked up enough accomplishments to take home the award for a second time, the first coming in 2021. If it weren’t for Aaron Judge’s record-breaking 62 home runs last year, Ohtani would have gotten a hat trick. The BBWAA notes that this is the first time a player has won a unanimous MVP twice. The most unique baseball player of all time is now the most unique free agent of all time and is surely in line to break another record, or records, when he finally puts pen to paper.
Seager and Semien each had fine seasons in their own right, but had little chance to catch Ohtani here, though they have World Series rings to soften the blow. Seager hit 33 home runs and had a wRC+ of 169 while those numbers were 29 and 124 for Semien.
Other players receiving votes were Julio Rodríguez, Kyle Tucker, Yandy Díaz, Bobby Witt Jr., Gunnar Henderson, Adley Rutschman, José Ramírez, Gerrit Cole, Luis Robert Jr., Yordan Alvarez, Adolis García, Judge, Bo Bichette, J.P. Crawford, Cal Raleigh, Rafael Devers, Isaac Paredes, Sonny Gray, Alex Bregman and Josh Naylor.
I AM SHOCKED!
. .
O
I’m shocked as well. Josh Naylor received a vote
Well deserved to the future Cubs Hall of Famer. He’ll hit 60 HRs at Wrigley next year and win the NL MVP.
Doubt Cubs sign him. More like Yankees
ericm25
no way ohtoni goes to the NYY. he’s staying west somewhere.
I believe that ohrani will sign a deal with an option to op out . maybe 2 yrs then he hits free agent again.
I don’t think he will stay West if money brings him to NYY. You can’t doubt the Yankees. Coming off a losing season, Steinbrenner is hungry to win. I’ve seen it as a Sox fan. Ohtani might not end up there but I certainly would not rule it out at all.
All I will say is I don’t think the Dodgers will target every big player and the next team up with money ready to win is New York. Dodgers aren’t a given.
Highly doubt he goes for an opt out. Few star players have done that. He’s probably going for an 8 to 10 year deal. Worth the most for him and covers him if he gets injured
The NYY didn’t have a losing season!!
Technically you are correct, but if you know New York and Boston fans, every season you miss the postseason is a losing season.
@Cora the Explora That’s true for any team anywere with a payroll above $180 million, every team that finished .500 or better the previous year, any team graduating some promising prospects to a 78 win team…
If Cubs sign him, the deal will be a one-year pillow contract for $45M. Then he can go back out on the market once he can pitch and get his 10 years, 500M.
Hoping so
Why would he agree to that when he can probably already get 10 year and $500mm this offseason? Although we are all guessing at this point. But still, it makes no sense to agree to a one year deal. If anything, he could get a LT deal with the ability to opt out after one or two seasons.
No way he takes a 1 year pillow contract like that. It would be a 10-year for security with a one-year opt out.
If it’s a one-year pillow contract and he’s a 6-win DH and a team doesn’t have to get involved with Ohtani’s decline phase, he’d take down $60m in a day and probably $75m.
Honestly, he wants to play in Boston from some of the stories I’ve seen. I hope he doesn’t sign with us, we have no room for a DH at that age and price.
Team was in 4th place with , and he missed last month, they still finished in 4th.. what an MVP!
but he’s a two way player!
Braves won the WS without Acuna. He must not be very good
Atta Boy Arcia
Swanson sends his greetings
Ohtani never belonged an angel?
To bad the Devils only play hockey
Angels haven’t made the playoffs with Ohtani yet he has 2 mvp .. what’s your point
fh
Would you say that, say, Mauricio Dublin deserved more votes than Ohtani?
His team won the division and he played in September
Or, do you agree that those things aren’t that important?
Obviously it should have been J.P. France
Huge respect for Dubon but the nod went the right way. Who is Dublin?
No, because there is no such person as Mauricio Dublin.
Guy thinks Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani are undeserving of their MVP awards because their owner is incompetent and they’re in a tough division. Lol
Oh brother.
Basically MVP means the player who adds the most wins. Every writer understands this, but you still don’t.
Do you even follow baseball?
He’s trolling. Y’all fell for it.
Should’ve received it last year. Think of the home runs in that ballpark he could have had!
Anyone who disagrees, just tell what Judge’s ERA was last year.
In my opinion MVP should be reserved for position players only. Pitchers have their award, it’s called the Cy Young. Now it’s a fair argument that because he also pitched he should’ve been MVP last year, but it’s really hard to go against breaking the “true” home run record.
Mute Button:
Hitters have their own award as well and it’s called the Hank Aaron award. People just don’t make as big a deal of it but it is awarded each season like the Cy Young.
c r
Ohtani is the best player in baseball
Almost certainly the most talented player in baseball history
Judge had the better 2022
Wow. Did you just start watching baseball?
Most talented in history? Laughable
Judge’s ERA was 0.00
N/A is not zero
The only reason I am not a fan of WAR as a deciding factor is that it is one person’s (or website’s) opinion of what stats are weighted more than others and then condensed into an easy to follow number. The problem with that is that there are a hundred different ways you can can weigh a player’s performance. That is proven by the fact that BR and Fangraphs number are sometimes vastly different. Voters for MVP should determine their own path for deciding who was best instead of relying on someone else to do the work for them.
Voters really can’t get close to the expertise and research and track record of either of the two methods of building WAR. WAR is not precise enough to determine between two very close players, but it does get almost everything right, whereas voters often go for Joe Carter or fail to notice when Rickey Henderson or Alex Rodríguez has the most valuable season by a country mile.
Oh yeah. I forgot the people that cover the sport for a living are nothing but troglodytes that cannot compete intellectually with people that majored in statistics, put together a cute acronym and came up with the idea that walks are somehow better than hits.
おめでとうございます、大谷翔平さん！2023年のアメリカンリーグMVP受賞、本当に素晴らしい成果ですね。あなたの卓越した守備と打撃の才能は、野球の世界に新たな光をもたらしました。これからも更なる成功を祈っています！
Well said. I think.
Here is what Old York said:
Congratulations, Shohei Otani! Winning the 2023 American League MVP is truly an amazing accomplishment. Your outstanding fielding and batting talents have brought new light to the world of baseball. I wish you continued success!
@…AND PRINT IT!!!
He’s a two-way player, sp of course he does.
おめでとうございます
Didn’t see this one coming.
Shocked. Stunned. Stupefied. Thought for sure it’d be oh, I don’t know, let’s say Moe.
At least one person understands and appreciates your obscure Simpsons reference 🙂
He should have won last year as well. His last three seasons have been the most impressive 3-year performance stretch in baseball history. I hope he makes a full recovery and gets back to the mound in 2025.
Judge was more valuable last season despite Ohtani having a huge advantage due to his skillset simply providing a ton of value.
That speaks volumes to just how insane Judge’s production was. It was a top 20 season all time as far as offensive production.
It’s obvious in both leagues this year. Acuña will win for the NL.
It’s unanimous in both leagues this year.
It’ll be fun seeing Ohtani vs. Acuna fighting over NL MVPs for years to come.
And the Dodgers can present it to him next season…
And he will go another year without winning a world series…….
To the Cubs confirmed..
The only part I don’t like about the MVP voting is that some years they want a postseason team and some they don’t. There’s not enough consistency. It should be the best overall player no matter what.
If the stats are close they’ll go with someone who makes the post season, sure. But its not even close. Shohei had a better season at the plate than seager and pitched 123 innings of 12 ks/9 3.12 era ball and went 10 and 5. No brainer
Im not saying this year but other years… I don’t think it’s always the case. Trout should have more from when he was good
That was a no brainer. The NL is not as sure of a vote
If somebody going 40/70 doesn’t win it, I’ll be shocked.
I think it will be Ronnie because 40/70 but Mookie is right there by bWAR. Much closer than Shohei and Seager by that measure. I’d vote for Acuna personally but both super worthy of the award. Incredible seasons by incredible players
I think you are right about Acuna winning it, but he and Betts are much closer than Ohtani and anyone else in the AL.
Boring.
Shouldn’t be called the MVP award. Should be Best Player Award. He wasn’t valuable to the Angels.
They were 10-5 when he pitched so he was at least valuable to the Angels when he pitched. Plus he had an OPS of 184 which means he was about 84 percent better then the average MLB batter. So he gave you almost two batters value in one player plus a pitcher who is ace level.
Every bit of production provides value. Baseball is a team sport and the fact that the Angels squandered all of that production does not make it any less valuable.
Wow Rangers finished 1-2-3 in MVP , Shohei, Ohtani, Corey Seager, Marcus Semien MVP welcome to Texas 11 years $550 million.
Lol
Ohtani loves the ballpark and almost signed with Rangers his first time. Merry Christmas Rangers fans !!!
It’s crazy is that sounds, it wouldn’t surprise me that much
World Series Darvish told Ohtani Texas has the best fans as well.
I did put Ohtani to the Rangers as one of my picks for the free agent contest…
I thought the best fans were Card fans? Or was it they were the most annoying like Rangers fans?
Yes, it should be called something like Player of the Year. . But they call in MVP.
Virtually everyone who follows baseball knows what the award means.
Completely disagree. It is solely because of Ohtani that they had a shot at the playoffs. He literally carried the team on both sides of the plate. That didn’t translate to the playoffs because the burden just became too great. You would have had to witness this and see him every day to truly appreciate what he brought to the team.
The greastest thing to happen would be that Ohtani signs with a team that nobody is expecting. No Angels, no Yanks, No Cubs, No Padres, Giants or Dodgers,. Could you imagine how amazing it would be if the Diamondbacks signed him? or the Orioles? Probably no chance but I think most of MLB fans are tired of it always being the same teams who get everything.
Who saw THIS coming?? Besides Stevie Wonder, that is!
Should’ve been Corey Seager. This guy missed a quarter of the year and doesn’t even play defense.
Corey Seager missed a quarter of the year too
Almost a third..and pitching IS defense
Number of PA for Corey Seager in 2023: 536
Number of PA for Shohei Ohtani in 2023: 599
And yes, as a pitcher Ohtani does indeed play defense. He’s a better hitter than Seager too.
Lol. They were similar hitters. So what you are saying is an average fielding shortstop adds more value than an ERA+ of 142 over 132 innings.
Sorry, that’s just dumb.
What HS! Seager should have won. Booooooooo!!!!
Seager won the only Trophy that matters.
Who in the hell gave Josh Naylor an MVP vote? There is no way he should have even been considered 10th best this season.
Aren’t most of the winners of these awards finalized Before the playoffs start??
It’s the shohei conundrum. Not saying he’s not a beast, but are we just going to give him the MVP every year because he does both? Should 99.99% of players be automatically disqualified from the award every year shohei is above league average at both disciplines? Look you can give him a batting title and a Cy Young in the same year that’s perfectly fair. I’m just saying beware the slippery slope. It wasn’t too long ago that a good chunk of fans thought he should win it over the AL all time home run king because “he also pitches”
Ohtani hit .304, 44 HR, and had a wRC+ of 180. He was the best hitter in the American League by a good clip. You cannot give someone a batting title, they earn it on batting avg. And he will very probably never win a Cy Young award. He put up more value than anyone else in the American league this year, thus the writers fairly voted him MVP. And you don’t have to worry, he won’t be throwing a pitch for awhile.
WW
It’s not a conundrum at all
As 2022 showed
@wrian, stop it you’re making way too much sense.
Very well deserved
Didn’t even make the playoffs how valuable was he? The writers association needs to outright provide the public with their “criteria” the fact that Matt Olson wasn’t even considered in the NL is a catastrophe.
I think catastrophe is hyperbolic. Perhaps he should have been 3rd instead of fourth in the MVP voting. I don’t see where he was better than Acuna or Betts.
WW
1) the criteria is public
bbwaa.com/voting-faq/
2) Matt Olson was definitely considered. Be finished 4th
Shohei didn’t even play a full season and still racked up great numbers both as a player and as a pitcher. There was no doubt, he is a freaking unicorn…
He is great, but it hard to say he is most valuable when he misses so much time and the team plays so poorly. They should rename it the best player award, not MVP
True he did miss the final month, but I’d argue that Trout missed even more time, and Rendon barely showed up too with whatever injury he had, can’t blame it all on Ohtani.
I don’t know how in the world Marcus Semien finished third in mvp voting. He wouldnt even be in my top 10 for this years players for the AL
MLB continues its March to trashville. Your team don’t win your not the MVP of league. Ohtani is being marketed so hard, they had to give it to him. Seager was the MVP and we all know it.
Everyone but you seems to understand what’s the award is about but you?
Some people don’t even follow this game.
Lol….Ok……
Pitcher WAR and Hitter WAR, does anyone, who knows how these are formulated, know if combining is kosher? I simply want to clarify that these aren’t apples and oranges parading around as apples and apples. Thanks.
CSE
It is kosher
You basically compare the number of runs a player produces as a hitter to the average runs produced by a hitter. And the number of runs they saved as a pitcher to the average pitcher.
It’s comparing runs to runs
Yes, you just add them as they are calculated separately.
Easy choice.
I’m shocked, Cotton!!
I’m glad for Ohtani winning the MVP. Now Arte Moreno should offer him part ownership of the Angels.
Sho would look great in San Francisco orange and black
Good for him. This should help him get a decent contract offer.
Sorry to tell you guys, but Ohtani will sign with the Oakland Athletics for 4 years $62 million.. Done!
You mean the Vegas Athletics, right?
With a $450,000,000 signing bonus.
You have to have a guy hit 62+ HR’s to take the MVP away from Ohtani.*
* caveat: returns to pitching well in ‘25.
Betcha the Rays are willing to talk to anyone who wants Yandy Diaz in a trade and is willing to treat him like the #6 vote getter in the MVP race.
Josh Naylor got a vote He’s going to be a very good player in the years to come for the Guardians.
If Julio ever figures out how to lay off the slider, he could be a player in this league…..
Ohtani is a great talent. He’s done things that only he can do. But Seager or Simien should have won this award. Sorry but he missed the last month. Judge was close and missed 50 games. This gushing love affair with Ohtani is a bit ridiculous. Win something other than individual awards.
Fg
“Win something other than individual awards.”
Watch a game and don’t just look at stats.
Players don’t win games, teams do.
You’re arguing Seager who missed a month and a half of games over Ohtani who missed a month because Ohtani missed a month?
So, will Ohtani win the NL MVP next year with the Braves? Or will that award have to wait till he pitches again?
Though a bit ago I thought he’d be back with the Angels, after the hire of RW. But, after reading between the lines on too many articles, I think that prospect is dimming.
Ohtani might have been the best player in the AL, but Seager was the most valuable.
@OhioDodger And yet, strangely not the most valuable player ON HIS OWN TEAM.
“Due to some finger issues and then a torn UCL, he only tossed 1 1/3 innings after August 9 and not at all after August 23. He continued hitting but he later suffered an oblique strain and his last game as either a hitter or pitcher was September 3.”
—–Enjoy your $500 million bench-rider, rich team that signs Ohtani. He has Trout’s durability decline written all over him.