Angels: Here’s why Shohei Ohtani is so important to the future of baseball

Los Angeles Angels phenom Shohei Ohtani has burst onto the scene in 2021 posting huge numbers both at the plate as well as on the mound. This is something that future generations will surely look at to demonstrate how elite an athlete the 26-year-old was in today’s game and how ahead of his time he was.

Major League Baseball players both pitching and hitting is not a new phenomenon if we look back historically, but rather what we are seeing from Ohtani today winds the clock back while simultaneously giving us a glimpse into the future of the game, which is what makes “Showtani” so special and critical to the survival of the sport of baseball.

Shohei Ohtani’s lasting impact on the game of baseball

The game as we know it started out as nine players hitting in a lineup, including the pitcher. Over time, the pitcher in that lineup has progressively regressed in his ability to compete at the dish, while at the same time progressing on the pitching side.

Babe Ruth demonstrated the ability to do both in the earlier days of the game and we have since progressed to today where the pitchers are arguably the best and most dominant they’ve ever been on the hill; and simultaneously terrible at the plate. The loss of importance of the pitcher’s role in the batting order has facilitated those same pitchers finding themselves where they are today as dominant forces seemingly decades ahead of today’s hitters.

But Ohtani presents the winding-back of the clock to a time where pitchers hit, and hit well, while also providing the sport with a glimpse of what could be if the importance of honing every skill in the game continues to outweigh the era of the “specialist” in baseball.

Just like how today’s position players are more and more becoming well-versed at various other positions, and just like how today’s pitchers are becoming even less situated to one defined role in the pitching staff, players in general and the coaches coaching them are going to see Ohtani and guys like him and continue to hone several facets of the game coming up through the ranks.

As an example, I was not in high school baseball terribly long ago, and when I played, the pitchers for the most part did not hit in the order the day they pitched. My particular high school team’s pitchers were not good hitters, or (to be more fair) they were not good enough to consistently get plugged into a high school lineup.

Throughout the time I was in high school (2010-2014) as well as the handful of years before and after my time, many schools (at least all the ones I knew of) faced similar phenomena, which is a big reason the players in today’s MLB across all age groups came up in a time where position players stuck to hitting and pitchers stuck to pitching after little league for the most part.

Now that someone like Ohtani has proven both can be done at elite levels adjacently, more and more of today’s youth are going to want to succeed at pitching and hitting.

And it’s thanks to Ohtani and others like him that are less known that the game will continue to sprout elite athletes who can pretty much do it all on a baseball diamond. “Showtani” is a pioneer in his own right, and regardless of how his career ends up when it’s all said and done, what he is able to do on a baseball field is going to inspire generations of future ball players to come.