Shohei Ohtani is doing things we’ve never seen on a baseball field before.
That might be an obvious statement for you, the reader, but there’s never a bad time to recount his heroics of recent years. The two-way phenomenon has won three straight MVPs, the latter two coming with the Dodgers, while Ohtani has helped lead Los Angeles to back-to-back World Series titles.
Since joining the Dodgers, Ohtani has created his own 50-homer, 50-steal club. He’s homered three times and struck out 10 batters in six scoreless innings in a pennant-clinching postseason game. And most recently, Ohtani had four extra-base hits and reached base nine times in a World Series game.
We all know about some of the obvious reasons for Ohtani’s success: he’s barreled more baseballs than any hitter since 2024, he’s fourth in stolen bases (79) in that time and he returned to the mound in ‘25 looking better than ever. What is perhaps underreported with Ohtani, if that’s possible, is how he’s shored up previous weaknesses to become a total and complete superstar.
Let’s take a look at some of the underrated keys for Ohtani’s success, specifically looking at his work as a hitter.
No pitch type is safe against Ohtani
In Ohtani’s first three MLB seasons with the Angels, he was a force against fastballs, slugging a healthy .586 against heaters and crushing 36 home runs in 556 plate appearances. Against breaking balls and offspeed pitches, however, Ohtani was more vulnerable, only slugging .396 with 11 home runs on non-fastballs.
Beginning with Ohtani’s breakout 2021 season with the Angels that resulted in his first MVP award, we began seeing signs of a maturing hitter who started pummeling all pitches. That success against fastballs, breaking balls and offspeed pitches alike has only gotten stronger since his final season with the Angels in 2023.
Ohtani’s pitch type success by year, since 2021
2021: .630 SLG vs. fastballs / .557 SLG vs. non-fastballs
2022: .582 SLG vs. fastballs / .460 SLG vs. non-fastballs
2023: .783 SLG vs. fastballs / .558 SLG vs. non-fastballs
2024: .577 SLG vs. fastballs / .714 SLG vs. non-fastballs
2025: .648 SLG vs. fastballs / .595 SLG vs. non-fastballs
To really hammer home this point further, you can see what Ohtani has done against each pitch group since he joined the Dodgers by looking at home runs against pitch types and his run value, essentially the sum of a batter’s total contributions (in this case, his run value against specific pitch types).
Ohtani’s ranks in home runs and run value against pitch groups, since 2024
1st in home runs against breaking balls (37)
1st in home runs against offspeed pitches (17)
1st in run value against breaking balls (+49)
1st in run value against offspeed pitches (+27)
4th in run value against fastballs (+57)
5th in home runs against fastballs (103)
That’ll play. Whether it’s home runs or overall contribution, Ohtani has been a top five hitter against fastballs, breaking balls and offspeed pitches. That type of success against all pitches puts pitchers in an impossible position, especially considering the supporting cast Ohtani has.
In 2025, there were eight pitch types that Ohtani finished at least 20 plate appearances against. Seven of those pitch types resulted in at least a .571 SLG, while the lone pitch below .500 was a .488 SLG in 49 plate appearances against sweepers.
Erasing platoon splits
Ohtani has come a long way since posting a .654 OPS in 110 plate appearances against left-handed pitching as a rookie.
Once again referencing his breakout 2021 season with the Angels, you can see the clear improvements against southpaws.
Ohtani vs. left-handed pitching, by season
2018: .654 OPS, 2 HR (110 plate appearances)
2019: .794 OPS, 3 HR (116 PA)
2020: .629 OPS, 1 HR (54 PA)
2021: .980 OPS, 18 HR (224 PA)
2022: .787 OPS, 9 HR (228 PA)
2023: .898 OPS, 11 HR (170 PA)
2024: .867 OPS, 12 HR (249 PA)
2025: .898 OPS, 15 HR (244 PA)
Ohtani was platooned frequently when he first joined the Angels, so it’s possible that more reps and experience helped him improve in this regard. You’ll notice that Ohtani had 216 combined plate appearances against lefties in his first two seasons but had 224 such opportunities against them in 2021.
It also helped that Ohtani dropped his strikeout rate by a pretty significant margin against southpaws. From 2018-20, Ohtani struck out in 31.1 percent of plate appearances against lefties. From 2021-25, that figure dropped to 26.7 percent. Simply allowing Ohtani to put the ball in play more against left-handers has created more opportunities for him to do damage.
More balls in the air
As Ohtani has developed into a true superstar hitter, handling all pitch types from both righties and lefties alike, he’s also started getting more baseballs in the air.
After running a 56.0 percent airball rate -- the percentage of batted balls that are flyballs, line drives or pop-ups -- as a rookie in 2018, that figure was a tick above 50 percent in both 2019 and ‘20. That meant that half of Ohtani’s batted balls ended up on the ground, a suboptimal outcome for hitters with his type of pop.
That trend shifted during the 2021 breakout, with Ohtani posting an airball rate greater than 55 percent in each season, while also exceeding 60 percent in three seasons. Whereas Ohtani produced a 52.5 percent airball rate from 2018-20, that figure has skyrocketed to 59.9 percent since 2021.
The pros to getting the ball in the air are obvious. Ohtani’s power potential was clear when he debuted but putting half of his batted balls on the ground limited his output. Since 2021, when Ohtani has gotten roughly 60 percent of his batted balls in the air, he’s slugged 233 home runs, second in the Majors behind Aaron Judge’s 249 long balls.
Put all of these elements together and you’ve seen Ohtani become one of the most complete hitters in baseball. Yes, Ohtani has plenty of swing and miss -- his 33.4 percent whiff rate ranked in the 4th percentile in 2025 -- but that comes with the territory with power hitters of this mold. And because he’s excelling in every other area, it’s basically a moot point.
At 31 years old, Ohtani is showing no signs of slowing down on either side of the ball. With his improvements across the board, there’s no reason to expect his generational run to end any time soon.