Los Angeles Angels manager Phil Nevin has a warning for the rest of the league about Shohei Ohtani’s motivation in 2023.
In a recent appearance on SiriusXM MLB Network Radio, Nevin said Ohtani was coming back motivated for 2023 in part because he was frustrated at being denied the MVP award last season.
“I know he’s determined to have an even better year from last year,” Nevin said. “He wasn’t happy about not winning the MVP, I can tell you that.”
Ohtani was the MVP runner-up in 2022, with 34 home runs and a 2.33 ERA in 28 starts as a pitcher.
He was not really any worse than he was in his 2021 MVP-winning campaign, but Aaron Judge’s 62 home runs were enough to win him the award.
Interestingly, there were some people vehemently against Ohtani winning MVP in 2022.
Ohtani clearly thinks he had a better argument than given credit for, but he will have to show it on the field this year to win some people over.
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