Shohei Ohtani received an award for his pitching. This has become a familiar headline in MLB, as fans have witnessed it multiple times. But, at the moment, this award seems a bit strange, as the Two-Way Phenom is restricted to hitting for the next season, with his pitching career uncertain. Despite such doubts, he recently received an honor for his outstanding WBC winning pitch for his team. However, the story is not as simple as it seems. There?s some twist to it.

After the UCL tear and Tommy John surgery, the 21st Century Babe Ruth is going through the recovery sessions currently. This has restricted him to be a hitter and put his free agency future in doubt. In the meantime, pitching metrics expert Rob Friedman, a.k.a. PitchingNinja, shared some exciting, award-winning news.

Shohei Ohtani receives the ?Pitch of the Year? award

Apart from playing in MLB, the Japanese pitcher also participated in the World Baseball Classic. Earlier this year, Team Japan faced Team USA in the WBC finals, where Ohtani pitched the winning pitch and won his team the championship. Sharing the video on X (Twitter formerly), Friedman captioned, ?2023 PitchingNinja Award: Pitch of the Year.?? He then declared the 29-year-old Japanese pitcher as the winner.

The WBC final game was exciting as two long-time teammates faced each other for the first time. While on the plate, Mike Trout represented the USA, on the mound, Ohtani was defending his country. In the end, Japan had the last laugh as the Two Way Phenom snatched it for them with an outstanding final pitch.

When the game was heating up as the 2017 WBC Champions were struggling against Japan, Shotime appeared as a savior. He threw a wicked low-hanging sweeper and struck out Trout to get the title. Trout tried, but it was not their year. Interestingly, Zac Gallen was present in the audience to witness this iconic moment.

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The excitement was suppressed with the below par MLB season for the Angels. However, as the PitchingNinja brought it up, fans jumped into his comment section to praise their idol.

Fans shower praises on Ohtani

The fans of Ohtani are anxious about his future and which team their idol will join. Amidst this, the glorious WBC pitching of Shotime brings them hope. They expressed their awe and love for the 29-year-old pitcher.

Read More: As Shohei Ohtani Tops Aaron Judge in Elite Statistics, Will the Yankees Splash $500M for the Two-Way Phenom?

Fans marked it as an amazing moment.

Some called it the peak of baseball.

Fans called it the greatest moment in baseball history.

Others expect it to be in the history books for ages.

A fan wanted to re-live the moment.

Though Ohtani’s abilities are a bit restricted at this point, he had proven his worth in every game he played throughout these years in every league.

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