Barry Bonds, who has a controversy over banned drugs, is a better hitter than ‘Superstar’ Shohei Ohtani (30, LA Dodgers)?
It is the captain of A.J. Piedzinski (48), who has accumulated 2,043 hits while serving as a catcher during his active career. Piedzinski appeared on the Major League podcast “Foul Terry” on the 28th (Korea Standard Time) and compared Ohtani and Bonds, claiming that “Bones is a better hitter.”
Ohtani is playing in an all-time high season this year. Having played in 157 games, Ohtani has a batting average of .309, on-base percentage of .390, slugging percentage of .651, OPS of 1.041, and 54 homers, 130 RBIs and 57 steals. Not only has he opened the club with 50 homers and 50 steals for the first time in the Major League history, but he has also become a “man of 700 million dollars” by setting a new record for the most stolen bases in a single season by a Japanese Major Leaguer, surpassing Ichiro Suzuki’s 56 steals in 2001.
Piedzinski, however, had a different idea. “Ohtani also has weaknesses. He’s certainly having a great season, but he still has a lot of challenges ahead of him,” Piedzinski said on the “Foul Terry Crew.” “I hope everyone knows this. This season is the 11th best season for Ohtani compared to Bonds.”
Bonds hit 73 home runs in 2001 and still has the record for most home runs in a single major league season, played 2,986 games and played 2,935 hits, hit .298, on-base percentage .444, slugging percentage .607, OPS 1.051, and 762 home runs and 1996 RBIs and 514 steals, but he is still not free from controversy over taking banned drugs.
“I know what you’re talking about. I mean, Bonds was on steroids,” Piedzinski said. “But I don’t care what Bonds was taking. Simply put, Bonds was better than anyone else at that time, and he was a better player than anyone else ever. He was the best hitter ever.” Bonds claimed to be a greater hitter than Ohtani.
He also made a direct comparison with Ohtani. “Of course, Ohtani’s season this season is incredible and wonderful,” Piedzinski said. “However, his OPS in 1993 when Bonds reportedly did not use steroids was 1.136, which is higher than Ohtani.” In 1993, the first season of his transfer to the San Francisco Giants, Bonds played in 159 games and won the National League MVP with a .336 batting average, .458 on-base percentage, .677 slugging percentage, 1.136 OPS, 46 homers, 123 RBIs, and 29 steals. Ohtani has been performing best this season, but his OPS is 1.041, which is lower than that of Bonds in 1993. Of course, Ohtani’s OPS for this season is high enough to rank No. 1 in the National League. 메이저사이트
It is questionable how many people will agree with Piedski’s argument. It is difficult to argue that Bonds has a controversy over taking banned drugs, so all his grades have been properly recorded.
Piedzynski was a player who played in the same era as Bonds. Having played in the major leagues for 19 years (1998-2016), Piedzynski played in 2,059 games and had 2,043 hits while playing for the Minnesota Twins, San Francisco, Chicago White Sox, Texas Rangers, Boston Red Sox, St. Louis Cardinals, Atlanta Braves, and had a batting average of .280, on-base percentage of .319, slugging percentage of .420, OPS of .739, 188 home runs, 909 RBIs and 15 steals. He was selected as a two-time All-Star and received a Silver Slugger award once.
Meanwhile, Ohtani has two more games to play before the end of the regular season. Ohtani will face the Colorado Rockies on Tuesday and Thursday to wrap up this season at Coors Field, Colorado’s home stadium. Ohtani has already maintained his batting performance by posting four hits, four RBIs and two runs from five times at bat, including his 54th homer of this season against Colorado on Friday, drawing keen attention to how many more homers he will have to end the season.
The Dodgers have already won the National League West with 96 wins and 64 losses, and Ohtani is also set to play in the postseason for the first time in his career. Ohtani played for the Los Angeles Angels from 2018 to last year, but has never played in the postseason. Ohtani, who exercised his FA right after the end of last season, signed a 10-year, $700 million contract with the Dodgers on his desire to win the World Series. This is the largest contract in the history of professional sports in North America.
