Shockwaves were sent around the baseball world when it was announced that Angels’ two-way phenom Shohei Ohtani was diagnosed with a tear in his UCL on Wednesday. The extent of the tear is not yet known.
Ohtani, 29, will not pitch for the rest of this season, and it is still to be determined whether he will require surgery. While he will remain in action as a designated hitter down the stretch, this injury will certainly tamper with the lofty contract he is expected to receive this offseason in his well-documented free agency.
Despite the injury, this season has been nothing short of spectacular for the 2021 American League MVP. He is batting .304/.405/.664 with 44 home runs, 91 RBIs, and a 1.069 OPS in 126 games. This elite production at the plate matches his pitching, where he has started 23 games with a 3.14 ERA (4.01 FIP) in 132 innings with 167 strikeouts. That said, he will likely take home another MVP award this season, as he is significantly ahead of his American League counterparts in hitting statistics alone.
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The fact that Ohtani’s hitting stacks up against the premier hitters in the league is the main reason why I think the Mets should not be deterred by this injury in their pursuit of the two-way superstar. As it currently stands, the Mets’ offense is roughly in the middle of the pack compared to other teams. They are ranked 19th in slugging percentage and 18th in OPS this season, which are figures that could be significantly increased with the addition of Ohtani to their lineup.
- Mets DH in 2022: 100 wRC+, 19 HR
- Ohtani in 2022: 142 wRC+, 42 HR
The Mets designated hitter situation was certainly underwhelming compared to what Ohtani was able to do.
- Mets DH in 2023: 97 wRC+, 19 HR
- Ohtani in 2023: 181 wRC+, 44 HR
The Mets designated hitter situation has been worse in 2023, and Ohtani leads all hitters with his impressive 181 wRC+. To further put Ohtani’s 181 wRC+ into perspective, it would be the 8th highest during a single season in the last 10 years. The Mets team record for a season is 167 wRC+ by John Olerud in 1998.
Although his pitching status may be in jeopardy going forward, he can still hit exceptionally. Hitters of his caliber have commanded generous contracts before, so there is no reason why Ohtani will not be able to get one himself for his hitting ability alone. A 30-year-old Aaron Judge signed a nine-year, $360 million contract with the Yankees in the most recent offseason. Consequently, his contract should be more valuable than those before him, given the possibility of him pitching in some capacity down the road if he heals from his injury.
As Keith Law of The Athletic and others have noted, Ohtani’s value goes beyond pitching and hitting too. The global superstar is reportedly worth north of $70 million a year to the Angels before he throws a pitch or swings a bat, because of all of the additional revenue they get from corporate sponsorships, stadium signage, and merchandise related to Ohtani sold at Angel Stadium. A businessman like Steve Cohen will certainly appreciate the value that Ohtani brings to the table outside of on-the-field production. Obviously, it is a much smaller scale, but Cohen was willing to give Edwin Díaz a record-setting five-year, $102 million, at least in part because of the marketing value the star closer brought.
All things considered, Ohtani’s unprecedented circumstances as an elite two-way player entering free agency are only magnified by this news. If teams did not know how to value Ohtani before, they definitely would not know how to do it now. All the speculation regarding Ohtani becoming the first player to surpass the $500 million mark in a contract could still prove to be true, especially if Mets’ owner Steve Cohen has his checkbook ready.
