Angels News: Shohei Ohtani’s 2023 Stat Projections Will Blow Your Mind

He's in for a big 2023 season.

Shohei Ohtani’s 2022 season may have been one of the greatest seasons we’ve ever seen in MLB history. Yes, he didn’t win the MVP award. But it took a historic effort from Aaron Judge to prevent him from winning the award for a second consecutive season, as he finished on the All-MLB First Team as a pitcher, and the All-MLB Second Team as a designated hitter.

Ohtani finished the 2022 season as the first player in MLB history to qualify among the league leaders as a pitcher and hitter, and slugged 34 home runs and 95 RBIs while having an ERA of 2.33 and a league-leading K/9 of 11.9.

MLB.com made stat projections for the 2023 season, and predicted that Ohtani will have a pretty dominant year on both sides of the ball.

“Shohei Ohtani, SP/DH, Angels

Projection: 35 HR, 16 SB, 96 RBIs / 12 W, 3.15 ERA, 217 K

It took a 62-home-run season from Judge to stop Ohtani from taking home back-to-back MVP Awards. If he hits these projections, it would take another historic effort to stop him from winning in 2023, too. Ohtani is projected for the seventh-most home runs as a hitter and the fifth-best ERA and eighth-most strikeouts as a starting pitcher. If you add up Ohtani's projected 3.1 WAR as a hitter and 4.4 WAR as a pitcher, the two-way superstar would rank No. 1 in total WAR ahead of Soto."

Is that good?

They’re predicting Ohtani finishes the season with a 7.5 WAR, at the top of the leaderboards as both a pitcher and hitter. If Ohtani does in fact have a season close to this (and nothing says he won’t repeat what he’s done the last two seasons), there would almost be no way anyone in the MLB can prevent him from winning the MVP.

If Ohtani stays healthy all season long, he should be in prime position to win his second MVP in three years. What a way that would be to enter unrestricted free agency.