MLB: Most Interesting Man in Baseball – Part II

Quarterfinals

1 Mike Trout vs. 8 Shohei Otani

Our first matchup pits The Just So Good against The Exception to the Rule. In Trout and Otani we have a true battle of skill. Trout is the best player in the world, while Otani is the best player playing outside of the U.S. right now.

Of course, “best” is not what we’re trying to quantify; instead, we are worried about “interesting.”

Let’s tackle Otani first. The 22-year-old righty is a pitcher first and foremost, and, wow, what a pitcher he is. As Ben Lindbergh noted in his excellent piece on Otani for The Ringer, Otani recently broke the NPB record with a recorded pitch speed of 165 kilometers per hour (or 103 mph). He did this in a save attempt because although Otani’s main job is that of starting pitcher, there is nothing this man can’t do. For MLB comparison’s sake, he’s at least as interesting as Aroldis Chapman, King of the Fast Pitch in the U.S.

Of course, Otani is a starter first and foremost, and given that he is fresh off an NPB MVP, it’s probably not too surprising that he is a very good one at that. Just how good was he though? We cited these stats last article, but let’s hit you with them again real quick. In 2016, Otani went 10-4 with a 1.86 ERA, 0.957 WHIP and 11.2 SO/9. For comparison’s sake, here were Clayton Kershaw’s numbers in 2016: 12-4, 1.69 ERA, 0.725 WHIP, 10.4 SO/9. Outside of Kershaw’s just stupid-low WHIP, those numbers look mighty similar. So we’ll add 80 percent of Clayton Kershaw’s “interesting-ness” to Otani.

We’re not done yet, though. As you all know, Otani can bring it with the stick as well. In 382 plate appearances in 2016 (he was used as the team’s DH throughout the season when not pitching), Otani hit .322 with 22 HR and an OPS of 1.004. For MLB comparison’s sake, in his historic debut, Gary Sanchez hit .299 with 20 HR and an OPS of 1.032. So now we can add one full Gary Sanchez-worth of interesting to Otani.

So is a combination of Aroldis Chapman, 80 percent of Clayton Kershaw, and Gary Sanchez enough to top the best player in the world? In a word, no.

We busted out a few Trout nuggets in Part I of this series, but it’s time to go back to the well with a few more crazy stats:

• Trout is the only player in MLB history with 30 HR, 125 R, and 45 SB in a single season. He did that in his rookie year.
• He and Willie Mays are the only players with multiple seasons of .320 BA, 25 HR, and 30 SB. Trout accomplished that feat in his first two professional seasons.
• In 2014, he became the youngest ever unanimous MVP.
• In 2016, he became the first since Babe Ruth to lead the league in WAR five straight seasons. He is yet to not lead the league in WAR.
• Simply put: Most WAR before the age of 25 in the history of the sport.

Trout is on pace to shatter MLB records and completely re-write the record books. Being able to see how that plays out is simply too much to fall in round one, even if his matchup is a three-headed version of Chapman, Kershaw, and Sanchez. Trout moves on.