Vaughn Dalzell breaks down why Shohei Ohtani has the best value at the All-Star break to win the AL CY Young Award.
AL CY Young: Shohei Ohtani (+1500)
Obviously Shohei Ohtani is all but a lock to win AL MVP pending a unforeseen injury, but don’t count the MLB’s best player out for AL CY Young either.
Ohtani enters the All-Star break ranking top 12 in the AL for ERA (3.32), runs allowed (39), strikeouts (132), WHIP (1.10), wins (7) and leads the AL in hits allowed (67), plus OBA (.189).
While his innings pitched and walks are outside the top 12 in the AL, Ohtani’s arm is managed because of his value as one of the league’s top hitters (leads MLB in homers at 31).
Going through the opponent’s order the first time, Ohtani holds his opponents to a .115 batting average and 15 hits in 131 at-bats. Ohtani’s numbers jump to a respectable .256 and .210 in the second and third time through the order.
Ohtani’s been amazing at both pitching and hitting, but the Angels will likely need to make the postseason for Ohtani to snag both MVP and AL CY Young.
The Angels are in the AL Wild Card hunt at 45-46 on the season and 5.0 games out of the final postseason spot.
Los Angeles went into the All-Star break 1-9 over the past 10 games, so the midway point couldn’t have come at a better time.
Los Angeles will play a ton of quality teams with the 5th-toughest strength of schedule remaining, so Ohtani will get to prove himself against the best of the best.
With his advanced analytics ranking at the top of the league and his baseball savant numbers have been stellar and I don’t expect that to stop.
I like the value on Ohtani to win AL CY Young at +1500 odds and think he could grab both MVP and CY Young.
He will not be pitching in the All-Star Game due to a blister from a week ago, but he shouldn’t miss more than one start in the second half.
Pick: Shohei Ohtani to win AL CY Young (0.5u)
Preseason Pick: Gerrit Cole at +400 (1u)
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