Angels Know Best Recruiting Pitch To Shohei Ohtani

The Los Angeles Angels, like seemingly every sports team, lives by the adage of taking it one game at a time.

“We don’t look into future all that far,” left fielder Taylor Ward said. “We just try to focus on today.”

However, it is impossible for the Angels to have their complete focus just on today. Everyone from general manager Perry Minasian to the manager Phil Nevin to the players and even the batboys know there is a seismic decision coming at the end of the season that will greatly affect the franchise.

Two-way wonder Shohei Ohtani becomes eligible for free agency when the season concludes. It is hard to overstate Ohtani’s value to the Angels – or whatever teams pursue him in the open market come November.

Ohtani almost certainly will sign the largest contract in baseball history. It seems likely he will get offers of at least $500 million and maybe one exceeding $600.

“He’s the one and only,” Ward said. “There is nobody else like him. Not even close.”

No player in baseball history, including Babe Ruth, has ever excelled as both a pitcher and hitter like Ohtani. He is the first major-leaguer ever to hit 100 home runs and amass 500 strikeouts as a pitcher in his career.

Ohtani is hitting .288/.361/.528 with nine home runs and six stolen bases in 42 games as the Angels’ primary designated hitter this season. As a pitcher, he has a 5-1 record and 3.23 ERA in nine starts while allowing just 26 hits in 53 innings and striking out 71.

In 2021, Ohtani was the American League MVP. He followed that last season by finishing second in the MVP voting to the New York Yankees’ Aaron Judge and fourth in the Cy Young Award voting.

However, for all of Ohtani’s wonderous feats since winning the AL Rookie of the Year in 2018, the Angels haven’t had a winning season since he left his native Japan to play in the United States. And that’s even with three-time MVP Mike Trout usually hitting right behind Ohtani in the lineup.

The Angels haven’t had a winning season since 2015, haven’t been to the postseason since 2014 and haven’t won a playoff game since 2009. Ohtani doesn’t like to talk about his impending free agency and politely declined an interview request for this story.

Ohtani’s teammates admit to not knowing exactly what the 28-year-old is thinking about his future. Just like the fans, the Angels read the occasional reports about Ohtani from unnamed sources that surface in the media.

Everyone in the Angels’ clubhouse gives Ohtani his space when it comes to free agency. No one is going to overtly lobby him to stay.

However, to a man, the Angels know what their best recruiting pitch is.

“We need to win,” Ward said. ““Shohei wants to win. Everyone knows that. Obviously, we want to keep him here and the best way to do that is to win and prove to him that this is the ballclub that he should be on, the team he should be on both on the mound and in the box.

“I just think just going through throughout the year that he needs to see we have a good clubhouse and are doing everything we can to win.”

No one questions the Angels’ clubhouse chemistry, especially Nevin.

“We have a good group of guys who are close-knit and spend a lot of time together away from the park, too” the manager said. “I think our guys like playing here.”

However, it’s the winning part that is again problematic for the Angels. They are 23-22 and in third place in the AL West, four games behind the division-leading Texas Rangers.

The Angels aren’t having a bad season. However, they aren’t exactly riding the pennant express.

“We’d like to have a little bit better record, but I really think things feel different here than they have in other years,” Ward said. “We have that mindset that we’re going to win every night. We’re not going to stop until we get to the last out. I think that’s just the mindset that will carry us to where we want to be and that’s to win a championship.”

Reaching that destination seems to be the best way to convince Ohtani to stay in Anaheim.

“It can only help,” Ward said.