There has been some real legends in the sport of baseball over the years, America’s favorite pastime but one analyst weighs up if Ohtani is the best living MLB player.
He went into some detail on the subject too no less.
Speaking on NBC Sports he said:
“As we make way for the great baseball
writer reporter Tom Verduchi he’s got
the Yankees Orioles tomorrow and MLB
Network showcase part of the Network’s
day long coverage on Sunday there’s a new
feature uh that he has on show he Otani
on si.com and a new Bryce Harper feature
coming out tomorrow. Tom thanks for
joining us let me start with Tommy John
the final push contributions to the game
if he’s not successful after the
surgery then we probably are looking for
a different alternative here so as a
Baseball Hall of Fame voter how much can
you factor in contributions to the game
to go along with winning 288 games. Yeah
I think you have to look at that Dan I
mean whether it’s a player who’s kind of
a borderline candidate who goes on to be
a manager I think you look at that I
think you look at Pioneers in the game
and you can make a case that Tommy John
is a pioneer of the game. Although the
medical community would say Dr Frank job
is the one who’s the Pioneer and
interesting Dr job was such a humble guy
he did not want that surgery which he
pioneered, it was named after him that’s very
unusual in the medical field. I mean you
think about the Jarvi heart and all
these kind of breakthroughs in the
medical field the Doctor Who Pioneers it
normally has his name on the procedure
and instead Frank’s job was such a humble
guy he said no, put Tommy Jon’s name
attached to that and you’re right, the
fact that Tommy John if he just comes
back and you know maybe throws a game or
two or a year he actually had a better
career it seemed like after the surgery.
I don’t think the impact would be as
great and besides that I mean looking
at his record now pitching all those
years all those Innings it gets better
as the years go by, man I mean no one’s
pitching like half the workload of Tommy
John and by the way I’m old enough to
have covered Tommy John and I once saw
him make three errors on the same play a
pitcher who made three errors on the
same play. I mean I don’t know if that
gets you in the Hall of Fame but it’s
notable he did uh describe it I asked
him about that uh half an hour ago and uh
he said yeah I bobbled it, threw it away
got the relay threw it home and I got
charged three errors on one play. Yeah I
mean 288 wins I know that we have
compilers but still you have to be
pretty good to win 288 games to stay
healthy enough to pitch and have over
500 decisions and a re very resp
respectable era and he pitched for Big
Market teams as
well, yeah, I like that point Dan because
you know Jack Morris to me was one of
those candidates as well and I voted for
Jack Morris and people looked at the ER
and said well it’s way too high you’re
not a Hall of Famer but to pitch that
many innings and to be the game one
starter for a couple of different teams
and obviously the big moments in the
World Series but to me it was about he’s
I know wins are not as important as they
were right we understand a lot more
about context but you still have to
pitch enough Innings to keep your team
in the game to qualify for the win and
if you do that year after year after
year you get 288 of those so we say
compiler like it’s an insult I actually
think longevity is a
skill well you bring up Jack Morris I
remember a former manager saying he
pitched you know it didn’t matter how
many runs he gave up he he would be
there to pitch how many innings do you
need you need me to go seven Innings he
didn’t get caught up in my ER is over
four take me out or I’m getting blown up
here it was what do you need me to do
and then I will go out and try to do
that and that’s why I always thought if
you’re the ace for three different teams
I mean there’s something to be said for
that and I don’t know I guess I the the
nostalgic part of me looks at Tommy John
and says it’s late in life he’s done an
incredible thing uh he was successful
won 20 games three times after the
surgery what’s the downside of of uh
putting Tommy John in the Hall of Fame
yeah I mean that’s the question I ask
why not right you certainly can make a
case for him but making a case against
him that’s hard to do for someone who
devoted his life to the game um and yeah
I think he was one of those guys in
today’s game we talk all the time about
third time around the lineup right these
starting pitchers don’t even get the
chance to pitch third time around your
era is going to go up if you pitch in
his case fourth time around too um but
he never wanted to come out of the game
and Jack Morris was the same way as well
I mean Jack Morris once literally
stopped Sparky Anderson in his track
Sparky was coming out to the mound and
before he got to the foul line which is
the second Mound visit where you’d have
to come out Jack Moris stopped him and
basically said get your butt back in the
Dugout whoever you got in the bullpen
ain’t any better than me that’s old
school no 100 team uh win teams this
year is that a good
thing uh yeah I guess you could say
because we have more balance um but I
think teams like the Dodgers dad have
figured out that there’s really not a
great reward from winning like 110 games
you’re better off not putting that
accelerator to the floor giving your
guys rest especially your pitchers not
going all out to win a boatload of games
because you’re winning your Division and
they’re not there yet don’t get me wrong
but you win their your division you
don’t get anything extra from winning
110 games so I think there’s a lot of
that going on where teams have noticed
in the postseason tournament baseball
man it’s like American Legion Baseball
the best team isn’t going win we pretty
much know that going in the hottest team
the one that has breaks go their way in
a small sample are going to win so I
think teams have realized let’s go I
want to say easy on the regular season
but we’re not going to try to win 110
games because we want to get to October
with our guys healthy that’s the biggest
thing yeah well you know the San Antonio
Spurs Greg Papovich made a career out of
this the regular season didn’t really
matter let everybody else have bragging
rights we’re going to be ready to go in
the postseason we’re talking to Tom
right load management he was ahead of
his time we hear that all the time now
but yeah you’re right you got a new
feature on sh Otani out on si.com if I
would have told you in March which
number would surprise you more 53 homers
or 55
Steels the steals to me I mean I I
thought with this guy’s power I actually
thought he had a chance to break the
Home Run Record uh maybe not Bond’s but
you know the the number by um by judge
to get over 6 2 63 get in that area I
thought that was possible just the way
he was trending and tracking but these
stolen bases no didn’t see that coming
at all didn’t think he would run this
much as he has and I know damn people
are going to say well you know the
stolen bases are easier now with the new
rules look around the game who else is
stealing bags at the rate he is I mean
it’s what 93 94% over 50 stolen bases
it’s one of the greatest years in
baseball history stealing bases uh so I
did not see him running this much it’s
probably
the result of not pitching like I don’t
see him running quite as much next year
when he’s back on the mound but this guy
Dan he he he’s actually there’s like 150
guys in baseball pure speed who are
faster than sh he’s not a complete
burner out the base he’s fast don’t get
me wrong but he’s stealing bases because
he’s smart and gets great
jumps I brought this up earlier this
week when we were looking for a comp for
Otani with that performance when he had
three home runs and and join the 50-50
club and the only other game that I
thought of let let me take Don lson out
because it was a perfect game so nothing
can be better than a perfect game and
that’s Ted Williams at the end of uh his
406 season when he chose to you know to
play in both games of the b double
header he could have rounded up to you
know 400 to
399.4 but he said no I’m going to play
even after he had gotten over 400 he
said I’m going to play the second game
of the do hitter I find that you know
comparable to sh Otani what about
you yeah that was one of the greatest
days ever I the Red Sox were out of it
the difference here is Show’s playing on
a team that actually clinched the
playoff spot in that game when he had
the six Hits 10 RBI three home runs so
it’s it’s probably statistically the
most prolific offensive game in the
history of baseball given the stolen
bases the home runs they had the all
those things which like you know playing
the bingo card I mean Bingo 20 times
over so I think it is the greatest
prolific game offensively in baseball
history legendary as far as Ted goes it
probably doesn’t top that one uh that
probably is like as far as Legends go as
big as it
gets are the white socks fascinatingly
embarrassing or just embarrassing that’s
the problem uh I don’t know that people
are going to be writing books and and
telling tales about the 24 white socks
the way they do the 62 Mets I don’t know
if there’s anything level about them
they they were just a bad team out of
the gate and got worse um and I’m not
sure what their future is but they’re a
long way from from really competing so
yeah I I just think that we kind of just
dismissed them as a really bad team but
I don’t think we were fascinated by them
you know this this race so to speak down
to the the stretch with the 62 Mets I
don’t think it’s captivated
anybody it’s hard to be that bad it is I
mean there there’s been a lot of bad
teams but they’re going to end up with
more losses than anybody in the history
of the sport and three years ago it
looked like the future was extremely
bright yeah I mean pitching they had Ron
they had Gio you know a guy like Luis
Robert was being compared to Mike Trout
um yeah I mean I don’t know how it all
fell apart so quickly but the Player
Development system just kind of stopped
there was nothing coming there um it’s a
good question Dan it it I agree with you
it’s hard to be this bad the Royals last
year lost 106 games and look where they
are this year right they may get them
postseason um but I I just didn’t see I
don’t think anybody saw this level of
ineptitude coming and guys like Ben and
Tendy were supposed to be good players
just fell off a cliff everything went
wrong for this team
Give Me Your World Series matchup if you
were picking
today wow um I like San Diego a lot Dan
uh and my pre-season pick was Phillies
over the Orioles in the in the World
Series so I shouldn’t jump off of that
but if you’re asking me which team right
now looks the most dangerous to me is
the San Diego Padres uh in the American
League I would go with the Houston
Astros right now for the same reason I
mean the Astros know how to run the
marathon they know how to get through
the season they started 12 and 20 four
and here they are they’re probably going
to wind up back in the ALCS like they
own the joint and I do think that their
pitching is that’s what you look at
right when you get the postseason is
better than the Yorks better than the
Yankees so I I think to me right now I
would say if I had to pick right now I’d
say San Diego over Houston Houston
doesn’t go away oh no they don’t they
they know what they’re doing uh it’s
pretty amazing yeah for all those teams
all the people who wrote them off at 12
and 24 you know you just it’s like
you’ve seen this with great players Dan
you always always give the greatest the
benefit of the doubt and to me that’s
show by the way you know I know people
are saying he’s never played in the
postseason before what’s he gonna do
well let’s you know wait until we see
what more do you need to see this guy’s
playing on a winning team for the first
time in his career and he goes out and
has the best September of his life I
mean I don’t know about you Dan but I’m
looking at this guy and I think we have
to start thinking about Shoh as the
greatest living player I mean I know
it’s a mouthful but I’m not talking
about career but his talent you’ve got
Griffy you’ve got Ricky you got Bond you
got Clemens you know now that Willie Maz
is passed you know that mantle is out
there greatest living player and to me
it really is Otani this is a guy who
can compete year after year except for
this year he’s hurt for both the Sai
Young Award and the Home Run title think
about that the same guy competing for
Sai Young and the Home Run title
great to catch up with you as always Tom
we’ll talk during the postseason thank
you love it Dan thanks Tom Verduchi MLB
Network FOX sports analyst and Senior
writer for Sports Illustrated si.com a
new feature on show he Otani and a Bryce
Harper feature coming out tomorrow.”
A lot of information there.
A lot of great names too in baseball metioned.
Still one of the great games and sports.
