Shohei Ohtani Receives Special Angels Honor After Stellar 2023 Start

He continues to live up to his 'Unicorn' nickname.

Many players that are in a contract year or under some heavy trade rumors may not have the best of starts to their season. Just take a look at Juan Soto, who is barely starting to find his footing one month into the 2023 season as analysts discuss his future with the San Diego Padres every single day.

However, Shohei Ohtani's situation with the Los Angeles Angels is very different. He doesn't speak much on his upcoming free agency as he only looks to focus on making the postseason for the first time in his career. Every contender is hoping to get a shot at him if he becomes available at one point or another.

But none of this noise seems to faze the 28-year-old superstar at all. He continues to be the most consistent option for the Halos at both the pitching mound along with the plate. There is no other dual-threat in the MLB that can slash .294/.355/.541 and also pitch with a 1.85 ERA.

This Shohei Ohtani home run was in the air for SEVEN SECONDS! If that sounds absolutely amazing, it's because it is.pic.twitter.com/ImXghWUWFt

— Codify (@CodifyBaseball) April 30, 2023

This play has led to experts from The Athletic naming Ohtani the 'Employee of the Month' for the Los Angeles Angels.

"I mean, of course, right? Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but the guy pitches

and

hits. He has an .896 OPS and seven homers at the plate, including a dinger that hung in the air for seven full seconds on Sunday. On the mound, he’s striking out more than a third of his batters and has an ERA of 1.85. His total of 2.1 bWAR is behind only Gerrit Cole’s in all of baseball."

He almost hit for

what would have been a historic cycle

. He is endlessly fascinating, like getting your wisdom teeth out and then looking through a kaleidoscope. Just as fascinating — or, if you prefer, frustrating — is the fact that the

Angels

also have

Mike Trout

and are still mired in third place. We know Trout will be around a while, but the big question for the Angels this season (beyond “Will they make the playoffs?”) is whether they’ll let their Employee of the Month wind up working for someone else."

(Via The Athletic)

Appreciate greatness ladies and gentlemen, you may never see this again.