What is Shohei Ohtani’s free-agent value? Teams calculating worth without answers on pitching future
Occasionally after one of his rare poor pitching performances, Shohei Ohtani would enter the Los Angeles Angels’ dugout and joke, “Maybe just hit.” As in, maybe just give up pitching altogether and focus on the offensive side of the game.
Ohtani plans no such thing. His agent, Nez Balelo of CAA, is telling clubs interested in Ohtani as a free agent that he intends to remain a two-way player. But around the Angels, the common belief was that the Japanese superstar enjoys hitting more than pitching. And the reality of his current circumstance is that, after undergoing surgery in September to repair a damaged ligament in his pitching elbow, he will not pitch in 2024.
The biggest question in baseball — what is Ohtani worth? — remains unchanged. But the uncertainty surrounding Ohtani’s future as a pitcher after his second major elbow surgery in five years makes his free agency perhaps even more complex than it was before.
Interviews with seven executives from teams
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