There are some other names you could throw into the ring at this point, but it certainly feels like Shohei Ohtani is the best player in baseball. And he proved that once again on Tuesday night in the World Baseball Classic.
Ohtani gave us an absolute classic of an ending to the WBC by striking out his buddy and teammate, Mike Trout, who some would also argue is the best player in the world. Yet, still, he struck out swinging with Ohtani up at the plate for Japan.
It was an incredible performance from the Angels pitcher that had all of us in awe.
SHOHEI OHTANI STRIKES OUT MIKE TROUT TO WIN THE #WORLDBASEBALLCLASSIC! pic.twitter.com/F7vUtIiRR1
— MLB (@MLB) March 22, 2023
That’s what was just so impressive about it. If there was ever a moment that so clearly demonstrated Ohtani’s dominance, this was it. What’s so crazy about it is that this just isn’t something that happens — not to Mike Trout. He’s almost never left swinging at the plate. Until Ohtani.
If you aren't impressed, you should be. Mike Trout has had 3 swinging strikes in only 24 of his 6,174 career MLB plate appearances!pic.twitter.com/VTlcRnAgPH
— Codify (@CodifyBaseball) March 22, 2023
So after the game, of course, Ohtani does postgame media with the MLB Network crew. But what happened next felt so special.
He goes over to the crew’s table and gets ready to take questions. And Pedro Martinez just begins showering the superstar with love and praise for everything that he’s done for baseball. It’s an amazing moment.
Game recognize game 🤝@45PedroMartinez had a message for Shohei after winning the #WorldBaseballClassic championship 🇯🇵 pic.twitter.com/773hBZToPC
— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) March 22, 2023
“Shohei, I want to say…on behalf of baseball…we want to thank you for the effort, for the discipline, for everything that you have done for baseball and what you represent for baseball. I just want to personally thank him for all you do. All you do. We are really proud and thankful and grateful for what you do. You are a special human being. So we want to thank you and recognize it.”
That’s such a cool moment, man. On so many different levels.
Sure, you could look at this as a player getting praise for what was a masterful performance in the WBC. But this is so much more than that. This is an absolute star of a previous generation in Pedro Martinez showering the star of the current generation in Ohtani with love.
That’s something you don’t often see in sports. There are times when older players can feel a bit jaded about the current era. It happens for a dumber of different reasons. It can be money, rule changes, or whatever. We’ve seen it across a number of sports.
So it’s just extremely nice to see Ohtani get this sort of love. As fans, we absolutely love to see it.
