Shohei Ohtani Is Having A Weird Season

Shohei Ohtani is one of the best players in the major leagues and maybe of all time. Before his injury, he was like something we had never seen before — an overpowering, dominant pitcher and an absolute monster of a hitter at the plate. His throwing days may be shelved for now, but he's still one of the most talented players in all of baseball.

That's what makes part of his stat line so crazy. Before the weekend, Ohtani was in the top five in several major offensive categories like extra base hits, home runs and total bases. Yet somehow, was was outside of the top 90 in RBIs. MLB expert Brady Farkas broke down the oddity that is Ohtani's season before LA's second, third and fourth game against Arizona as a part of their a four-game series.

"He's having a historically odd, but still productive, season so far," Farkas said heading into the weekend. "He's got 11 home runs this season, but almost all of his homers have been solo home runs this year. This is a convoluted stat, but I find this stuff interesting.

"He's fourth in the majors in homers with 11, he's fifth in extra base hits and he's fourth in total bases, but he's 96th in RBIs. He's 96th in RBIs right now! It is the first time ever that a player has been in the top five in homers, extra base hits and total bases, but outside the top 90 in RBIs in any day in May or later in baseball history."

Baseball is obviously a very old sport with a ton of obscure stats, so for something to have never have happened before, it's pretty special. Farkas spoke about the specific stat line and also how the Dodgers are doing during Ohtani's unique run.

"He's still productive, but nobody's on base in front of him. He's the lead off hitter, so I know he can homer to lead off a game, and that'll account for some of it, but like, get on base in front of this guy," Farkas said with a chuckle. "He's the MVP — he's arguably the best player in baseball, all around. I know [Aaron] Judge is having an incredible year, so debate that till the cows come home, if you want, but he is a top-two player in the league. Get on base in front of him! Oh by th eway, they're still winning."

All truth from Farkas. The Dodgers are a league best 27-14 right now and show no signs of slowing down even with outfielder Teoscar Hernandez currently injured. Ohtani hs having a great year, he's just doing it without driving other runs in. If he continues to lead off, that probably won't change, but if he's moved around a bit, those numbers could rise. Either way, Ohtani is contributing as are most of his star teammates.