Angels News: Writer Calls Shohei Ohtani 'Favorite' to Win 2023 AL MVP Award
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Angels two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani won the 2021 American League Most Valuable Player Award, and he came in second in the voting in 2022. According to David Adler of MLB.com (and many others), a second MVP could be in Shohei's near future.
Adler wrote about who will be the best player on each team in 2023, and his write-up explaining why he chose Ohtani for the Halos was pretty glowing.
Angels: Shohei Ohtani (7.5 WAR -- 3.1 hitting, 4.4 pitching)
If the two-way superstar lives up to his projections in 2023, he’s going to be the favorite to win his second MVP Award in three years. Steamer has Ohtani as the No. 1 player in baseball if you combine his hitting and pitching value. He’s projected for 35 home runs, 16 stolen bases and 96 RBIs as a hitter and 12 wins, a 3.16 ERA and 217 strikeouts as a pitcher.
Projections are conservative by nature. No one gets projected for 7.5 WAR — unless they can play both ways. And only Ohtani can do that.
It took a historic season from Aaron Judge to pry the MVP away from Ohtani. His 9.6 combined WAR would deserve the MVP in almost every year; it took a 10.6-WAR season from Judge (on the strength of his AL-record 62 home runs) to beat him.
But yes, with Ohtani being projected for 7.5 WAR, he has to be the favorite for the MVP. Judge is projected for 6.9 WAR.
It could be Ohtani's last year with the Angels; if it is, he could go out with a bang.
