“I always have on my mind the thought that next year I must do something greater, something more wonderful.”
- Harry Houdini
Shohei Ohtani is baseball’s Houdini. Somehow, he finds a way to continue to amaze us. The first player with 200 home runs as a hitter and 600 strikeouts as a pitcher. The first player to start an All-Star Game as a pitcher and designated hitter. The first 50–50 player. The first athlete in major North American sports to win three MVPs unanimously.
Now Ohtani is well on his way to his latest trick: the greatest run-scoring season in 89 years.
The Los Angeles Dodgers DH leads the major leagues with 59 runs in 56 team games—while, oh by the way, training on the side to return to major league pitching. How crazy is that pace?
Only two players in the modern era (since 1900) scored 162 runs in a season: Babe Ruth (twice) and Lou Gehrig (twice), the last to do it, in 1936.Only five players scored 154 runs in the modern era, all between 1920 and ’36: Ruth (four times), Gehrig (twice), Chuck Klein, Rogers Hornsby and Kiki Cuyler.As a follow-up to 50–50, Ohtani might as well go for 50–150 this year, as in 50 homers and 150 runs. Only two players have gone 50–150: Ruth (four times) and Jimmie Foxx, the last to do it, in 1932.
Yes, runs scored is influenced heavily by the strength of the surrounding lineup. The Dodgers are scoring more runs per game this year than any team except the Chicago Cubs and more runs per game than any full-season Dodgers team in 72 years.
Shohei Ohtani notches his first stolen base of the season! 💨 pic.twitter.com/dfIz4wj09L
— MLB (@MLB) March 30, 2025
But with his speed, extra-base power and ability to steal bases, Ohtani makes full use of his opportunities. He scores 49% of the time he reaches base, a rate exceeded only by Ceddanne Rafaela of the Red Sox and Pete Crow-Armstrong of the Cubs.
Ohtani is a superb baserunner, not just a leadoff hitter riding the coattails of a deep lineup. Statcast rated him the fifth best baserunner in 2023 and the third best baserunner last year. He ranks tied for 10th this year, though in subtle ways he has bettered his game.
Dodgers third-base coach Dino Ebel challenged Ohtani after last season to improve his secondary leads and his reads on the bases. Ohtani is a massive dude who is surprisingly fast. As Ebel says, “He’s like Mike Trout. When he comes around third base, you can hear him running. There is sound that comes from someone that big, moving that fast.”
Truth is, however, that Ohtani needed to sharpen his baserunning work. Last year he was thrown out on the bases seven times, a career high, including three times at home, also a career high. (Outs on the bases do not include pickoffs, caught stealing or force plays.)
To no one’s surprise, Ohtani has improved. He has not been thrown out on the bases and his rate of taking the extra base is a career high (48%).
If you want to stop the Dodgers, you must stop Ohtani. The Cleveland Guardians discovered that truism Wednesday. They kept Ohtani from scoring (he reached base once via a walk) and defeated Los Angeles, 7–4. The Dodgers are 28–9 (.757) when Ohtani scores a run and 6–19 (.316) when he doesn’t.
Houdini died 99 years ago but was such a force of showmanship that he lives on eponymously as the very name of escape maneuvers. Like Ohtani, Houdini was an enormous global sensation who transcended his craft to become a cultural icon. And like Ohtani, Houdini knew the magic came not from words but from deeds.
“Never tell the audience how good you are,” Houdini said. “They will soon find out for themselves.”
Juan Soto was asked if he feels like he's had bad luck recently:
— SNY (@SNYtv) May 25, 2025
"I just call it baseball. It's gonna happen, sometimes you're going to hit it hard and you're going to hit it right in front of people. You've got to keep moving forward" pic.twitter.com/HVkrLWbEhJ
Juan Soto doesn’t look right
The metrics on Juan Soto of the New York Mets continue to define him as an overly passive slugger who has stopped driving the baseball consistently. Soto is seeing a career-high rate of pitches in the strike zone (49.1%) but swinging at them less than ever (54.6%). His overall swing rate (34.4%) and first-pitch swing rate (19.3%) are also career lows. One of the game’s great hitters simply has the bat on his shoulders too much.
Scott Boras, the agent for Soto, says he advised Soto that until he finds his comfort zone as he “wears the crown” of Highest Paid Player, he should swing less and not force it. When Soto does swing, the results are underwhelming. His bat speed is down 2.1 mph from last year, the fifth biggest loss of bat speed in MLB. And his pull-side power has dwindled. Soto went from elite last year on hitting balls in the air to the pull side (19.1%) to poor this year (11.0%; MLB average is 16.6%).
The frustration is showing in a strange decline in foot speed. Soto’s sprint speed has declined from 26.8 feet per second to 25.9. For a 26-year-old outfielder, that decline is odd. Only four 26-and-under players (minimum 50 competitive runs) have a worse sprint speed, and none of them are outfielders: third baseman Isaac Paredes of the Astros, first baseman Nolan Schanuel of the Angels and catchers Keibert Ruiz of the Nationals and Alejandro Kirk of the Blue Jays.
Spencer Strider still has a ways to go
“Wait until Spencer Strider gets back” was a popular mantra for the Braves, first as he recovered from UCL repair surgery and then a right hamstring injury. His return is a reminder that just getting off the injured list does not mean an immediate return to full effectiveness.
The rust on Strider is showing. His four-seam fastball has lost some electricity. His fastball velocity Wednesday in Philadelphia was 95.0 mph, still good enough to win games but the lowest of his 70 career games. Overall, his average velocity this year of 95.2 is down from 96.3 last year before he hurt his elbow and down from 98.2 in 2023. It also has less vertical movement and less spin than in ’23. He is throwing with an arm angle five degrees lower than what it was in ’23.
It’s only a 40-pitch sample, but righthanded batters have hit .444 off his fastball. Strider essentially is a two-pitch pitcher against righthanders. Four-seamers and sliders accounted for 40 of his 41 pitches to righthanded batters against the Phillies on Wednesday. Only five of them were on the inside half of the plate.
Strider is such a fierce competitor he still allowed only one run in 4 2/3 innings. But without a pitch moving arm side to righties and not yet armed with his high-octane riding heater, Strider must lean more on command and competitiveness. With each start Strider should build endurance and arm strength to get closer to his 2023 form. It’s a reminder that with all pitchers coming back from elbow surgery, repetition and patience are required.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Shohei Ohtani Hasn’t Run Out of Ways to Amaze.
