Hoornstra: Shohei Ohtani takes center stage among 2023’s MLB storylines to watch

Baseball is Shohei Ohtani’s world and we’re all just living in it.

At least, that’s how it feels in the afterglow of the World Baseball Classic, which ended when Ohtani struck out teammate Mike Trout with a wicked slider to lift Japan past the U.S. to the WBC championship.

If he isn’t the best all-around player ever to wear a baseball uniform, Ohtani is at least the closest thing since Babe Ruth. Back-to-back seasons of dominance at the plate and on the mound have earned him that much.

But until he wins a championship and signs a highly anticipated free agent contract, some will be waiting for the other shoe to drop on Ohtani’s career. Aside from his raw talent, those questions will make Ohtani the face of baseball for at least the next year.

You’d think it would have made him the focus of the league’s preseason marketing campaign. But, alas, we begin our look at the most intriguing storylines of 2023 with …

The rules

Major League Baseball really wants you to know it’s speeding up the game, banning extreme infield shifts, and making it easier to steal bases. The new rules are the focal point of a newly released ad campaign (featuring Bryan Cranston watching baseball on television, defining the target demographic perfectly). The tagline – “Three New Rules. More Great Action.” – feels a bit self-congratulatory on the league’s part. But the rules appear to be delivering on their promise.

With the pitch timer in place, the average time of a spring training game is down by nearly half an hour compared to last year. Pitch timer violations are down in general, and it’s been a month since one decided the outcome of a game. Batting average on balls in play is on the rise, likely because of the ban on infield shifts, and so are stolen bases. Don’t accuse MLB of false advertising.

Meanwhile, the league is asking umpires to more rigorously enforce the foreign substance checks that went into effect in 2021. Whether they work or not, at least the hand checks have begun in spring training, when pitchers have more time to adjust. Two years ago, at least one pitcher suffered an injury that he attributed to his inability to grip the baseball after the sticky-substance enforcement went into effect. We can only hope that doesn’t happen again.

Ohtani watch

The MVP of the World Baseball Classic (and the runner-up to Aaron Judge in last year’s AL MVP race) is entering his first contract year stateside. That’s a scary thought. Ohtani’s last two seasons are already unparalleled in major league history and, barring injury, he can look ahead to signing the largest contract in North American sports history.

Unless the Angels race out to a big cushion in their quest to end their playoff drought, questions will persist until the trade deadline whether or not Ohtani will finish the season in Anaheim. Even if he stays put until the end of the season, speculation about his next team is already the subject of Las Vegas gambling odds.

Those in Ohtani’s circle believe the two-way superstar has come to feel at home in Southern California, which could matter more as he looks ahead to his future. Ohtani turns 29 in July.

Unfortunately for the Angels, winning a championship has come to matter more to Ohtani, too. The Angels have yet to win a playoff game since 2009. Southern California’s other MLB teams have the money (and in the Dodgers’ case, the prospect capital, if the Angels entertain a trade) to acquire the game’s best player.

In the meantime, try to enjoy what Ohtani is doing on the field. No one has done this before.

The nouveau riche

Speaking of the Padres and things no one has done before: San Diego’s $1.5 billion in salary commitments beyond 2023 already dwarf those of the Yankees and Mets. Can owner Peter Seidler spend his way to a title?

History isn’t on the Padres’ side, but it’s a remarkable experiment in how to do business. The Padres spent roughly five years amassing prospect capital before trading almost all of it away in pursuit of a championship-contending roster.

Now, even Three Finger Brown could count the number of homegrown Padres on one hand: only backup catcher Luis Campusano and reliever Steven Wilson were drafted into the organization. (Pitcher Adrian Morejon, signed as an international amateur, is expected to begin the season on the injured list.)

Milestone watch

Baseball is increasingly a young man’s game, but a few MLB veterans have hung around long enough to push their way into some prestigious leaderboards.

Craig Kimbrel (394) and Kenley Jansen (391) are poised to become the seventh and eighth closers to join the 400-save club. Clayton Kershaw (197) and Adam Wainwright (195) will likely become the fourth and fifth active members of the exclusive 200-win club. Justin Verlander, at 244, has two more years under his new contract with the Mets to convince us that 300 isn’t yet out of reach.

Albert Pujols’ retirement leaves Detroit’s Miguel Cabrera as the only active member of baseball’s 3,000-hit club. There’s quite a bit of daylight between Cabrera (3,088) and the No. 2 player on the career hits list, Cincinnati’s Joey Votto (2,093). Cabrera’s next hit will tie him with Ichiro Suzuki for 24th all-time.

In fact, Cabrera is the torchbearer for persistence these days. He needs 75 RBIs this season to push his way into the top 10 all-time. No other active player is even in the top 100. He’s also the only active player in the top 100 all-time in doubles (14th) and total bases (16th).