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Mike Chiari is the featured Columnist for the Los Angeles Angels.
The images are by Steph Chambers.
The Los Angeles Angels pitcher and designated hitter won the Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year award.
The American League's Most Valuable Player was a 27 year old player.
In his fourth MLB season, Ohtani hit. hli with 46 home runs, 100 RBI, 103 runs scored and 26 stolen bases. He went 9-2 as a pitcher with a 3.18 ERA and 156 strikeouts.
Ohtani won the American League's Most Valuable Player Award, as well as making the All-Star team and winning a Silver Slugger Award for the first time.
After starring in his native Japan, Ohtani showed flashes of brilliance in his first three MLB seasons, but he struggled to put it together over a full season because of injuries.
The two-way marvel made a huge impact both at the plate and on the mound in his 155 games in the year 2021.
Over the past several decades, two-way players have been a rarity in Major League Baseball, and it has been even longer since a player possessed a skill set similar to Ohtani's.
Babe Ruth was both a position player and hitter for the Boston Red Sox before being traded to the New York Yankees.
In 1919, Ruth hit.322 with a league-leading 29 home runs, 113 runs scored, and 103 runs driven in for Boston while going 9-5 with a 2.97ERA as a pitcher.
Ohtani struck out more than Ruth did and hit for more power, but his season was more dominant as he hit for more power and struck out more hitters.
Even though the Angels failed to reach the playoffs in 2021, Ohtani enjoyed one of the most unique and remarkable seasons in MLB history, making it difficult to pass him up for the award.
NBA players have won AP Male Athlete of the Year for three years in a row. The award has been won by either an MLB or NBA player in the last nine years.
Ohtani is the first Japanese athlete to win the award and the second non-American to win it.
Naomi Osaka was named the AP Female Athlete of the Year in 2020, while he was named the AP Athlete of the Year.
