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both disciplines work? Was there even a place in MLB for any player attempting to succeed as a pitcher and a hitter? While pitchers in the National League (NL) have to take at-bats when they play, Ohtani signed with the Los Angeles Angels of the American League (AL), a league that uses a designated hitter (DH) in place of the pitcher in the batting order. While at first that seemed to be an odd choice since Ohtani wanted to hit regularly along with pitching, he knew that the Angels could conceivably put him in the lineup as a DH in games when he wasn’t pitching. From Opening Day of 2018 until the end of the 2022 season, Ohtani has proven that it is possible to be a high-caliber pitcher while also starring at the plate. From hitting a single in his first MLB at-bat and getting a win in his first start to earning the American League Most Valuable Player (MVP) award in 2021 and finishing second in the award’s voting for 2022, Ohtani has become a massive baseball star in the United States. Along the way, there have been memorable moments and records broken.

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Shohei Ohtani