Is Shohei Ohtani Already A Hall Of Famer?

Is Shohei Ohtani already a Hall of Famer? In this video, we look at the highlights and stats of Shohei Ohtani's career and compare him to other Hall of Famers like Reggie Jackson, Justin Verlander, and Babe Ruth. In my opinion, I think Shohei Ohtani is already a hall of famer, but he does not meet the requirements yet.
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[@derick-smith]

I think Ohtani is in now but it won't matter. He isn't slowing down and when he goes in, it'll be first ballot and unanimous. It seems unsustainable but he keeps proving everyone wrong. His work ethic is his most elite tool. He's the answer to what happens if the most talented person with the most ideal body also works the hardest. He's the perfect storm.

[@BendyDH]

He basically eat sleeps and breathes baseball, I think the best comparison in American sports is that of Tom Brady, with his extremely strict, highly specific diet and workout regiment that allowed him longterm sustainability as a football player. I think Shohei has a similar regiment to his life, meaning he may be able to sustain the 2 way play at least into his 30s perhaps even for his entire career

[@thomaslemon3971]

I personally appreciate consistency and longevity more than insane peaks. That’s why someone like Hank Aaron was so great. His numbers were pretty similar year to year, and he racked up his totals by basically having the same output every season for over 2 decades. I’m excited to see how Ohtani’s whole career goes. He’s gotten a ton of people interested in baseball who never cared before

[@djdrew3102]

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I watched this video, but I can say that this is pretty well presented and Shohei is certainly headed in that direction, although expecting the baseball writers to do the right thing is like expecting a Rockies pitcher to have the objectively best season of all time.

[@christophernickerson8225]

Babe Ruth's record as a pitcher was 94 and 46

[@unkledoda420]

And to be fair, while he never hit 30 HR while pitching, he did hit 29 while pitching, which was an all time season HR record at the time, for any position. So Ruth in 1919, off pitchers that could still legally throw spit balls using the deader pre-1920 balls, set the single season HR record and had a sub 3.00 (2.97) in the same season.

[@SP-ve1im]

What Ohtani is doing is insane but his peak is too short to be locked now. But we all know he will be a slamdunk HOF and likely will be one of the best ever so let him play out his career.

[@robbiearroyo2292]

10:10 technically true, but he did hit 29 in 1919 and slugged .657 in 543 plate appearances. Not Babe's best year pitching, but he did have .8 pitcher WAR in 133.1 innings (Ohtani in 2023 pitched 132). Oddly enough, the year before that Babe pitched 166.1 innings and Ohtani pitched 166 even). He had less than 400 plate appearances that season but still led the league in home runs and slugging. Not perfect comparison, but point being that I think as increible as Shohei is, he's not completely unprecedented, just incredibly rare. Which is no knock on him at all, he's put together a really remarkable resume so far. The pieces are all there, he just has to keep it up going forward, and not get too deterred by injuries. 480 innings over 5/6 years is not a huge sample size in its own right.

[@Aut0KAD]

the problem is, you have no comps with shohei ohtani, and I think that's exactly why he is already worthy of the HOF

[@jamesrichardson381]

I'm not sure I've ever seen a serious video with a dumber premise. I know the world has gone Ohtani crazy and he can apparently do no wrong but to pose this question is crazy. The Hall of Fame isn't based on how well liked you are, or how good you will likely be when it's over or even how rare it is about your baseball career and his career is still very young. The guy could have hit 50 bombs, 150 rbis, and won 20 games each year so far and he wouldn't be worthy. He likely some day will have built the career worthy of acceptance but now? That's just stupid. We are talking about a DH who sometimes pitches and we all know how DH unfriendly the HOF has been so far and that's with guys who did it for 20 years and who dare I say it, actually made their teams better.

[@Sam_on_YouTube]

Yes. He's in the Hall of Fame now in my book. He's moving toward the indisputable GOAT. A long career with a long peak stretch would allow him to surpass Ruth. You can't surpass Ruth without doing something we just haven't seen before. Few have done something comperable to Ruth outhomering entire other teams. One of the few examples is Ricky Henderson with stolen bases. Ohtani being a great starting pitcher AND a great DH makes him qualify in that way. Then on top of that, doing both at an HOF level allows him to really gove Ruth a run for his money. With a long career, he'l surpass Ruth. I'm rooting for him.

[@isletoflangerhans8281]

Maybe if he has more seasons like he's having this year, but otherwise his pitching+hitting, while impressive, is still behind the pitching-only or hitting-only value of a bunch of players.

[@Sam_on_YouTube]

@@isletoflangerhans8281 Well yes, that's why he isn't the indisputable GOAT. He was MVP 2 years ago. Last year he was even better and only lost out on MVP to an all time great performance by Judge. This year... he's even better than that. There are few players ever who have had a peak of their career anywhere CLOSE to what Ohtani is doing right now. That's enough, in my book, that once eligible, he should make the HOF. But he'll need a long peak and a long good career outside his peak to reach the status of someone like Babe Ruth. I think he can do that, but he hasn't yet.

[@Sam_on_YouTube]

@@isletoflangerhans8281 The only players with peaks of their careers, by WAR, that are really at or above Ohtani's level as it stands now are Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Barry Bonds, Mickey Mantel, Mike Trout, Pete Alexander, Rogers Hornsby, Ted Williams, Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson, and Willie Mays. If he has another couple of seasons in this range, he'll be competing really just with Ruth, Johnson and Mays. If he has a long enough career, he could surpass them all.

[@jonnyblayze5149]

Ruth was a 20 game winning pitcher too. So NEXT!

[@Sam_on_YouTube]

@@jonnyblayze5149 Yeah, that's the main reason I have always put Ruth in a category by himself, far above Bonds, Mays, and others. But Ruth said himself he could not be a great pitcher while also being a great hitter. He could either be an excellent pitcher OR the greatest hitter of all time. Not both. That opens the door for Ohtani. He is doing something special and unheard, like Ruth. The special thing he is doing is fill one roster spot woth 2 Hall of Fame caliber positions. The special thing Ruth did was outhomer entire teams. That's the bear minimum to compare to Ruth. With a long and good enough career, he has a SHOT at catching RUTH for GOAT. But it is a REALLY high bar. Ruth was otherworldly for a very long time.

[@unkledoda420]

Ralph Kiner got in the HOF with a 10 season career, just making the minimum requirement. It was a shame that back injuries forced him to retire at 32 (and WW2 delayed the start of his career by a coupke years), it would've been nice to see how many homeruns he could've hit in a full career. He led the NL in homeruns every year for the first 7 years of his career, finished with 369 HR in 10 seasons.

[@ingibingi2000]

I say yes

[@LatinxGoyslop1994]

Currently? Nah. But if he keeps this up until he retires? Definitely first ballet, maybe even unanimous. I think probably there will come a time when he cant do both effectively, but I hope its not for a while

[@scottwaldo]

If Shohei keeps this up until he retires, he will be undoubtedly the goat.

[@alexsweet8585]

Can't be. Doesn't have 10 years.

[@unkledoda420]

Exactly

[@MH_0015]

That rules needs to be yeeted. Ohtani is a HOF even if his career ends before 10 seasons for so reason. Idc what the rules say.

[@alexsweet8585]

@@MH_0015 what's the matter? Don't you think he's good enough to last another 4 years?

[@jonnyblayze5149]

​@@MH_0015BWAHHH HA HA HA HA HA HA HA no he's not. Stop

[@thomaslemon3971]

@@MH_0015 Nah, part of greatness is longevity imo.

[@senju1kay]

w upload

[@gibson.saintyfilms]

I personally believe Shohei should be in the hall, he is my favorite player ever, but your steroid/cheating argument makes me wonder. These voters look for anything to discredit a player's accomplishments. So even though not having longevity is nothing like doing steroids or betting on games, it seems like the old heads will use it as a way to discredit. This is with the assumption he doesn't play into his late 30s, which he could. Shohei, no matter what, is the most exciting baseball player I've ever watched, and I'm lucky to be a baseball fan while he is doing this.

[@ZaKRo-bx7lp]

No, he needs another 4 more monster seasons

[@sir.muffiniii7011]

hes already had monster seasons, he literally just needs to cruise with like an .850 ops and like 25-30 homers a year and he will be first ballot

[@pinkeye00]

Roger Maris is not in the HoF. You can't hav eone without the other.

[@its-dg2987]

Not even the same thing at all.

[@smoceany9478]

literally what is the comparison at all

[@jonnyblayze5149]

Why would he be?

[@LaMostraVia]

No. F no. He’s only played for 6 years lol.

[@ingibingi2000]

Koufax had a short career

[@unkledoda420]

​@@ingibingi2000A player has to have played for at least 10 years to even be eligible for HOF. Koufax had a 12 year career. He just wasn't really anything special til the last 5-6 seasons.

[@fliplife67]

For now that’s no!!!!

[@early_crypto_investor4451]

I like the Sho man but he will never ever be considered the greatest of all time. That is and will always be Babe Ruth. Period discussion is over. Ruth is a much better hitter and pitcher you did make a few errors in your video such as in 1918 Babe Ruth had a 13-7 record with a 2.22 era with 18 complete games and 1 shutout he also had 59 games in the outfield that year with 505 innings with 121 putouts and 8 assists. It’s at this point I need to inform you that Shoman has only ever played 8 innings in the outfield not games but innings. He brings nothing to your team defensively period. That year hitting Ruth had 382 Plate Appearances he had 95 hits with 26 doubles 11 triples with 11 Homeruns led the league he had 61 RBIs with a .300 Average with a .411 OBP with a .555 SLG% he led the league and an OPS of .966 which also led the league. O yeah for good measure he also won the World Series that year and went 2 and 0 with a 1.06 era. So there is that. Moving on to the next year 1919 he was 9-5 with a 2.97 era with 12 complete games in the outfield he played 111 games with 934 innings with 222 putouts with 14 assists and only 1 error with a .996 fielding % I’ll point it out for you if you haven’t noticed yet he would have won a gold glove that year if the award had existed. Hitting wise he 543 plate appearances with 103 runs scored led the league 139 hits with 34 doubles 12 triples with 29 homers led the league with 113 RBIs led the league he also had 101 walks with only 58 strikeouts with a .322 batting average with a .456 OBP led the league with a .657 slugging % led the league with a 1.114 ops led the league with a 217 ops+ led the league with 284 total bases led the league. Once again there is no comparison Ruth is the greatest of all time it was way harder to hit homers back than as the fences were 500 feet to Center and the ball parks where massive plus Ruth had no protection gear batting helmets or elbow pads plus. Also pitching back than was harder as well since striking outs were frowned on hitters had way higher batting averages since they weren’t striking out swinging for the fences. I’m sure you knew all of this or maybe you don’t please do some research before you make a video. It’s not that hard. One last stat for you bud in a 5 year period on the mound 1915-1919 Ruth had 1,167 innings pitched Sho man so far in 5 year career he has 480.1 innings he will need another 10 years so 15 total for his pitching career just to match the innings Ruth tossed in 5 years. Also Shoman has only 1 Career complete game and 1 career shutout Ruth has 107 Complete games and 17 career shutouts so there is that.

[@sir.muffiniii7011]

Ruth was not a better pitcher and could only do one of the other, and when you adjust for run environment ohtani is better, and isn't as good of a hitter as Ruth he's just a step below while being an elite baserunner

[@early_crypto_investor4451]

@@sir.muffiniii7011 Ruth hands down was a better pitcher back when he pitched no one was swinging for the fences at the expense of striking out 200 times per year he also had more innings pitched in 5 years than Ohtani would at his current rate over a 15 year span. Yet Ruth smoked him in career era, winning% etc. however Ohtani does have one stat over Ruth Ohtani has 2 Tommy Johns and Ruth has none. I just dropped the Mike buddy.

[@sir.muffiniii7011]

@@early_crypto_investor4451 you didn’t but ok, you have to adjust for the run environment, and in era+ ohtani is better, and wins mean nothing and you know that. And whatever if ohtani needs two tommy johns? He can’t help if he gets hurt and Ruth never fully had multiple 2 way seasons, and ohtani does, ohtani also has more pitches, is better at striking guys out, and can throw faster, babe was a better hitter for his time but ohtani isn’t too far behind but ohtani is by far the better pitcher, along with being miles better on the base paths

[@early_crypto_investor4451]

@@sir.muffiniii7011 your out of your mind Ohtani isn’t even close to Ruth in the hitting department he’s not even a top 300 hitter all time offensive and that’s just a fact. The only reason Ohtani gets compared to Ruth is cause he can pitch a little bit but not really. Ruth threw way more pitches than Ohtani ever has Ohtani has 1 career complete game and 1 shut out that’s it. Ruth had 107 Complete games yes go back and read that again to go along with 17 Shut outs did I forget to mention Ohtani only has 1 of each. At this point your just embarrassing yourself with your arguments I’d stop while you are still behind.

[@sir.muffiniii7011]

@@early_crypto_investor4451 what? Ohtani is already like top 100 all time he is insane? And did you say he can only pitch a little? Bro he finished like 3rd on cy young voting last year get off Ruth’s dick, he played against plumbers before the colour barrier even dropped, im done with you lol you haven’t watched a baseball game since 1927

[@FuckYoutubeAndGoogle]

You're comparing prime Shohei to rookies. Volume also matters, 79 games is nothing. Those guys wouldn't be HoFers if they only pitched 79 games. Strikeout rates across the league have also risen from the time those guys were rookies to now. Ohtani has also only had 3 truly elite years, which is simply not enough.