The Minnesota Twins, who were swept by Houston this year and failed to advance to the Major League Baseball Championship Series, could be in the market for “two-hitting” star Shohei Ohtani.
Japanese media outlet Baseball Channel reported on March 30, “Ohtani will be a free agent. Among the players who will become free agents this year, Ohtani is the one who is attracting the most attention.” “According to a U.S. local newspaper, it was mentioned that Minnesota could make a move to sign Ohtani,” it said.
In his major league career, Ohtani is 38-19 with a 3.01 ERA in 86 games (481⅔ innings) as a pitcher and 701 games as a hitter, batting .274 (2,483-for-681) with 171 home runs, 437 RBIs and a .922 OPS.
He’s a legitimate MVP candidate, although an elbow injury this year that prevented him from finishing the season took a bit of a bite out of his rating. As a pitcher, he appeared in 23 regular-season games (132 innings) this year, going 10-5 with a 3.14 ERA. As a hitter, he finished the year 135 games (497 at-bats, 151 hits) with 44 home runs, 95 RBIs, and a 1.066 OPS. Even if he didn’t make it to the end of the season, he still led the American League in home runs.
Many teams are interested in him. In a recent article, New York Post reporter John Heyman listed the Los Angeles Dodgers, San Francisco Giants, and Texas Rangers as the teams closest to signing Ohtani. With reports suggesting that his price tag could be as high as $600 million, not many teams will be able to get close.
Nevertheless, there’s still a lot to be said for signing Ohtani. Moreover, it is believed that he will only play as a hitter next year and will be able to play a ‘two-hitting role’ again from the 2025 season.
“If Minnesota can land Ohtani, they can fill both their batting and pitching holes,” said a local U.S. publication, Zone Coverage, “but it’s hard to see him pitching next year. Minnesota might have a hard time signing him given the uncertainty of its starting rotation next season.”토스카지노 도메인
The outlet concluded, “While interest in Ohtani is growing as free agency approaches, the question is not whether he will sign with Minnesota. The question is whether Ohtani can help Minnesota win a World Series.”
Minnesota advanced to the Division Series this year, defeating the Toronto Blue Jays in the wild-card game, before falling to Houston in a 1-3 series.
Ohtani, the only two-hit star in the majors, won the American League Rookie of the Year award in 2018 and MVP and Silver Slugger honors in 2021. He finished second in MVP and fourth in the Cy Young Award in 2022. He has also been named an All-Star for three consecutive years (2021-2023). It will be interesting to see which team he will play for next season.