When Shohei Ohtani chose to sign with the Los Angeles Angels, he was joining a team that hadn’t played a playoff game since 2014.
Still, with prime Mike Trout on board, the two joined forces and were formidable.
The Angels have been so dysfunctional and mediocre, however, that they still haven’t made the playoffs since 2014 and now the six years of team control for Ohtani are up.
The two-way phenom is ready to test free agency, and the chances of him returning to the Angels are slim at best.
The team failed to provide help for Trout and Ohtani for years.
The lack of talent is evident when we see a particular stat, courtesy of Codify Baseball.
“Shohei Ohtani drove in 437 runs as a Los Angeles Angel and 171 of those were himself,” they tweeted.
Shohei Ohtani drove in 437 runs as a Los Angeles Angel and 171 of those were himself. pic.twitter.com/ew530x67ec
— Codify (@CodifyBaseball) November 9, 2023
Ohtani hit, since joining the league in 2018, 171 home runs.
He accumulated a total of 437 RBI: if we subtract the 171 times he drove himself in, his teammates helped him put runs on the board 266 times.
That ratio is ridiculously low.
Take this year’s performance as an example: a player who hits .304 with 44 home runs, 26 doubles, and eight triples should have had more than 95 RBI.
He also had a 1.133 OPS with runners on base and a 1.078 mark with runners in scoring position, so it’s entirely a problem related to the quality of the hitters around him.
If Ohtani wants to have a chance at winning a World Series, going back to the Angels wouldn’t be the smartest choice.
It might be sad for him because he built memories there and is attached to the place, but it’s a decision he should make with his head, not his heart.
The post Stat Shows How Much Shohei Ohtani Lacked Help With The Angels appeared first on The Cold Wire.