Baseball’s biggest star is officially staying in Los Angeles, but he’ll be wearing a new jersey. Shohei Ohtani announced via his Instagram that he has reached a deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
According to ESPN’s Jeff Passan, the contract is worth $700 million over 10 years – by far the largest contract in MLB history.
“To all the fans and everyone involved in the world of baseball, I apologize for taking so long to make a decision,” Ohtani wrote in his Instagram post. “I decided to pick the Dodgers as my next team.
“I would like to express my sincere gratitude to everyone involved in the Angels organization and the fans who have supported me over the past six years, as well as everyone involved with every team that has participated in this process negotiation. Especially for the Angels fans who supported me through all the ups and downs, the support and encouragement from your guys meant everything to me. The six years I spent with the Angels will remain forever engraved in my heart.
Ohtani first came to the MLB in 2018 after playing five years with the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. He signed with the Los Angeles Angels and won Rookie of the Year in 2018. After two injury-plagued seasons, Ohtani took major league baseball by storm.
Ohtani has no equivalent in baseball. In 2023, “Shotime” became the first player to win the unanimous MVP award twice. No player since Babe Ruth has contributed significantly as a hitter and pitcher.
The two-time MVP didn’t just contribute, either. He is elite on both sides of the ball. During his 2023 MVP campaign, Ohtani finished with the fourth-best WAR (6.0) among American League players, then separately finished with the fourth-best WAR (4.0) among American League pitchers . He led the American League with 44 home runs; his 3.14 ERA would have finished fourth among all AL starters had he qualified for the end-of-season rankings.
Some fear, however, that Ohani’s days as a two-way actor are numbered. The former Angel has been ruled out for the remainder of the 2023 season with right oblique irritation. Ohtani underwent elbow surgery in September. The announced plan is to allow Ohtani to return to hitting without restrictions by Opening Day 2024, but he will not be able to pitch until 2025.
Commercially, Ohtani is an international revenue powerhouse. The Japanese superstar was best selling jersey in the league in 2023. In 2022, Ohtani broke a record for total brand mentions for a single MLB player. Katsuhiro Miyamoto, economist at Kansai University estimated that in 2022, Ohtani’s estimated impact was $316 million on the U.S. and Japanese economies.
