ANAHEIM, Calif. — The Angels and two-way star Shohei Ohtani have agreed to a one-year contract for next season worth $30 million, the team announced Saturday afternoon.
Ohtani was going to be eligible for salary arbitration after this season. This deal means he and the Angels will avoid the process.
“Well deserved,” CAA’s Nez Balelo, Ohtani’s agent, said of the contract.
The reigning American League MVP will become a free agent after the 2023 season.
Angels general manager Perry Minasian was not immediately available for comment.
Ohtani’s $30 million contract is a record for an arbitration-eligible player, a contract worth $3 million more than what Dodgers star Mookie Betts received from the Red Sox in 2019 (one-year, $27 million).
Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom’s 2019 arbitration contract featured a $9.6 million year-over-year raise, and Betts’ 2019 arbitration deal with the Red Sox included a $9.6 million raise. Ohtani’s contract gives him a raise of $24.5 million for 2023, the largest year-to-year increase in MLB history.
The Angels now have about $103 million committed to the 2023 payroll between Ohtani, Mike Trout and Anthony Rendon.
“We knew we were gonna have him back next year, but I think the comfort level going into the offseason for everybody involved, probably a good thing,” interim manager Phil Nevin said. “It’s not really my department.
“Getting to manage him has been truly a pleasure,” Nevin added, “and hopefully we get to stay together for a while.”
Ohtani this season has continued to re-write the history books in the first season of MLB’s designated hitter rule change, which allows a starting pitcher to bat for himself on days they also pitch — affectionately nicknamed the “Ohtani rule.”
In 2022, he became the only player in MLB history with 10 or more wins as a pitcher and 30 or more home runs hit in the same season. At 15-8 through 27 starts and 34 home runs hit over 152 games, he well surpassed Babe Ruth’s single-season mark, set in 1918, as a two-way player with 10+ wins and 10+ home runs hit.
He is on pace to be the only player in MLB history to qualify as a league leader as both a hitter and a pitcher in the same season — he is one inning shy of the minimum innings required for a pitcher. Ohtani’s final start of the season will come in the Angels’ last game on Oct. 5 in Oakland.
“It’s good to see your friends succeed and get what they deserve,” fellow starting pitcher Patrick Sandoval said of Ohtani’s new contract. “He’s worked, what, five years for this? It’s awesome to see him get what he’s deserved.”
Added infielder David Fletcher, “I don’t think it’s surprising. I think we all kind of knew it was coming. Hopefully we can get a 10-year deal done soon.”
Overall, Ohtani in 2022 has pitched to a 2.35 earned-run average, limiting opposing batters to a .207 batting average. He’s batting .276 with 29 doubles, six triples, those 34 home runs, 94 RBIs and 88 runs.
