Shohei Ohtani (29, LA Angels) was selected as the best player (MVP) in Group B in the 1st round of the 2023 World Baseball Classic (WBC).
The WBC organizing committee named Ohtani as the Group B MVP after summarizing the results of the Group B match held in Tokyo, Japan on the 15th.
Ohtani, who is also a pitcher in the US Major League (MLB),안전놀이터 played a big role in the first round of the WBC as both a pitcher and a hitter.
He started against China, which was the team’s first game on the 9th, and pitched well with 5 strikeouts and no runs (1 hit) in 4 innings. The fastest ball speed was 161 km.
‘Target Ohtani’ was even more amazing. He added a hit, an RBI, and a walk in each game, posting 8 RBIs for a batting average of 0.500 (6 hits in 12 at-bats) in 4 games. In particular, more than half of his six hits, four of which were long hits (three doubles and one home run). In the last game against Australia, he hit a super-large final home run with a distance of 136.5m (based on MLB.com) in the first inning, congratulating himself on advancing to the quarterfinals.
His walks were also picked out 7 times, and he had an on-base percentage of 0.684. The combined OPS of on-base percentage and slugging percentage (1.000) is 1.684. He was tied for first in batting average, tied for first in RBI, tied for first in walks, tied for first in on-base percentage, and tied for first in slugging percentage.
With Ohtani’s performance, Japan finished the first round with a 4-0 victory and easily secured the ticket to the quarterfinals. Ohtani plans to play as a starting pitcher and designated hitter in the quarterfinal match against Italy held at the Tokyo Dome on the 16th. The foreign press predicts that Ohtani will only pitch until the quarterfinals and after that, even if he reaches the finals to prepare for the MLB opening game, he will only play as a hitter.