After another highlight moment in a career already full of them, Shohei Ohtani earned a spot next to Barry Bonds on Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts’ list of all-time great players.
Roberts told reporters after Ohtani hit the go-ahead three-run homer for the Dodgers in the ninth inning of Friday’s 14-11 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks that the three-time MVP and Bonds “are the two best players I’ve ever seen.”
Few people in MLB have had the up-close view of both Ohtani and Bonds that Roberts has had. He is in his second season managing Ohtani and played with Bonds on the San Francisco Giants in 2007.
Roberts, who also played for the Dodgers from 2002 to ’04 and San Diego Padres from 2005 to ’06 during his career, was on the opposing side for many games against Bonds in the NL West.
One area that Roberts thinks Ohtani is definitively ahead of Bonds is in clutch situations.
“I played with Barry, but what Sho does in the clutch, I’ve never seen anything like what he does in the clutch,” Roberts said after Friday’s victory.
Even though Ohtani isn’t currently pitching, when you factor that part of his game into the equation, it’s hard to really make an argument that Bonds is better. Bonds is certainly the superior offensive player with a career 182 OPS+ (Ohtani has a 159 OPS+), but he never had a season finishing fourth in Cy Young voting.
By the way, Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times reported on Thursday that Ohtani is expected to be back on the mound in games at some point after the All-Star break.
Ohtani’s heroics on Friday capped off a six-run ninth inning that saw the Dodgers erase an 11-8 deficit against their NL West rivals.
The reigning World Series champs have won 10 of their last 13 games, but they are only one game ahead of the Padres in the division standings.
During this 13-game stretch for the Dodgers, Ohtani is hitting .385/.500/.981 with 16 extra-base hits (six homers) and five stolen bases.
