Is Shohei Ohtani the best hitting pitcher in baseball history?

[jmowreader]

Ohtani pitches in the AL, and they don’t use a DH when he’s on the mound.

This morning, MLB.com is reporting that Ohtani, the winning pitcher in last night’s 10-3 win over the Royals, nailed a 119-mph double in the seventh that stands as the hardest hit so far this season. According to Statcast, only five batsmen have recorded hits at least that hard since 2015: Giancarlo Stanton did it nine times, Aaron Judge did it four, Nelson Cruz hit one ground-ball single, Gary Sanchez lined out and Ohtani hit one double.

When I was going through my email this morning and saw that, my first thought was obvious: isn’t Ohtani in the league where pitchers don’t hit? Apparently this guy didn’t read the memo that says pitchers are supposed to be lousy at the plate.

As for Babe Ruth...he was a decent hitter on the Red Sox, but he didn’t become the Sultan of Swat until the Yankees moved him to right field.

[MLAA]

1. I'm a Diamondbacks fan and will watch for Ohtani.

He will be fun to watch.

[First Speaker]

2. Yes, it's Babe Ruth...

...he was actually switched to the outfield in Boston, because he hit so well. He was famous as a hitter almost as soon as he began playing in the big leagues. He was *Babe Ruth* right from the start. In 1918, he won 13 games as a pitcher, and still, playing half-time as a pitcher-outfielder, led the AL in home runs. He broke the major league record for homers in 1919 with 29, still pitching occasionally. Ohtani is a helluva ballplayer, but he's not at Ruth's level--yet.

[ironflange]

5. As soon as Ohtani hits like Ruth, he'll find himself in the outfield too

[rampartc]

3. i will watch for him

i was looking dor greg maddox' batting stats, but the braves had a few pitchers in that era with good batting averages and a few home runs. tom glavine and smoltz were others.

this is a good list (2017.) they use on base percentage which seems fair the way they explain it.

https://www.foxsports.com/mlb/gallery/mlbs-10-best-hitting-pitchers-042117

[nevergiveup]

4. Bob Gibson of the Cardinals

was a hell of a hitter in his day. I can remember him being used as a pinch hitter.

[kairos12]

6. It's Babe Ruth. Nobody else is even close.

[jmowreader]

7. Ruth was a pitcher and a titan of hitting, but not at the same time

This is Ruth's Baseball Reference page:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/ruthba01.shtml

Please note: during the years Ruth was a full-time pitcher, he was also a pretty average hitter.

[kairos12]

8. For 2 seasons he was among the best pitchers and hitters.

1917 and 1918

https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/may-6-1918-the-babe-makes-his-first-start-as-a-position-player/

snip:
Ruth excelled while doing double duty in 1918, a season cut short due to America’s entry into World War I. He appeared in 95 games, 20 of them as a pitcher. The 23-year-old finished with a 13-7 won-lost record and a 2.22 ERA. In the other contests, he pinch-hit, played first base, or saw action in the outfield. Babe hit 11 home runs, “despite the soggy ball,”16 and tied for the league lead with the Athletics’ Tillie Walker. The Red Sox won the World Series against the Chicago Cubs. Ruth hit just .200 (1-for-5) and failed to go deep. On the mound, he went 2-0 in two starts with a 1.06 ERA.

He tied for the league lead in HRs despite being primarily a pitcher.

No pitcher ever again will lead the league in HRs, or tie for that matter.

Just another aside about Ruth, he stole home more times than Ricky Henderson.

[malthaussen]

9. Micah Owings had a career OPS+ of 1.06

And a career OPS of .813. As far as pure pitchers go (ie, those not later put in the outfield), nobody even comes close.

However, his career at-bats only number 191, which is a smallish sample pool. But he turned those at-bats into a .283/.310/.502
average, which is not to sneeze at. Did not exactly set the world on fire as a pitcher, though.

-- Mal