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American League Rookie of the Year While Ohtani made headlines in the first week of his rookie season, he wasn’t done by a long shot. Ohtani became only the second player in MLB history, after Babe Ruth, to pitch in 10 games while also hitting 20 homers in the same season. Anytime a name is mentioned in the same sentence as a legend like Babe Ruth, a player must have done something spectacular. Over the course of the season (before an elbow injury shut down Ohtani as a pitcher), he struck out 63 batters in 51 2/3 innings pitched while maintaining a 3.31 earned run average (ERA). Even after the elbow injury diagnosis, he continued to hit. Ohtani hit 22 home runs with a .285 batting average, 61 RBI, and even stole 10 bases.

Ohtani received all but five of the 30 first-place votes for AL MVP, beating out the New York Yankees’ pair of rookies, Gleyber Torres and Miguel Andujar.

Shohei Ohtani discusses his favorite memories from his rookie season.

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Shohei Ohtani