Could Shohei Ohtani win the NL Cy Young Award?
He might not be able to match the workload of some other contenders, but the Dodgers' superstar is making an early case for some more hardware.
On the latest episode of “Baseball Bar-B-Cast,” hosts Jake Mintz and Jordan Shusterman checked in on one of this season’s most compelling early storylines: Shohei Ohtani Cy Young watch. The Dodgers’ superstar currently has a 0. 38 ERA with 25 strikeouts and 6 walks in 24 innings across four starts.
That is, notably, fewer starts and fewer innings than most of the other pitchers who are likely to be in the mix for the award. For contrast, Tyler Glasnow is up to 33 innings, and Nolan McLean is at 35. Ohtani is unlikely to catch up to other contenders in terms of workload but has the potential to make his case in other ways.
“He has been as stellar on the bump as we ever could have imagined,” Mintz said. Another significant marker for Ohtani as we near the end of April: He has not allowed a home run. Across his 24 innings, he has faced 92 batters without giving up a long ball.
Ohtani’s teammate Justin Wrobleski is the league leader in innings pitched without a homer surrendered, having thrown 30 frames. The other pitchers ahead of Ohtani on that list are the Pirates’ Carmen Mlodzinski, the Blue Jays’ Dylan Cease and the Nationals’ Cade Cavalli. Shusterman summed Ohtani up this way: “Good at pitching.