Is Shohei Ohtani the greatest of all time?

[CP87]

Not just the greatest MLB player. Is he the greatest athlete ever to compete in American professional sports? Obviously his career has been too short to think over that timeline, but has anyone ever been as exceptional as he has been over the past few years?

 

[guffus]

He's the Caitlin Clark of baseball.

 

[Hawkboys]

Not just the greatest MLB player. Is he the greatest athlete ever to compete in American professional sports? Obviously his career has been too short to think over that timeline, but has anyone ever been as exceptional as he has been over the past few years?

No, but is in top 10. I reserve the top 2-3 to ones to redefine their sport. Babe and MJ.

 

[Fryowa]

Not just the greatest MLB player. Is he the greatest athlete ever to compete in American professional sports? Obviously his career has been too short to think over that timeline, but has anyone ever been as exceptional as he has been over the past few years?

He's not even the greatest MLB player. People put too much fanfare into the pitching thing. Yes, it cool, and the past three years he's had video game offensive production but he's played 7 years total and only 3 of those at an otherworldly level. It's gonna take a whole lot longer to be the GOAT.

 

[99topdawg]

He's not even the greatest MLB player. People put too much fanfare into the pitching thing. Yes, it cool, and the past three years he's had video game offensive production but he's played 7 years total and only 3 of those at an otherworldly level. It's gonna take a whole lot longer to be the GOAT.

Would you consider Bonds in the GOAT conversation?

I used to be absolutely against it until I started reading about the different PED's that have been used since the 50's. I think you have to include everyone of them or none of them, and not base it on the extent to which they used it or were helped by it. I still think he's trash and I hope he doesn't get into the HOF, but I have at least started to take what he did and put a mental asterisk by it instead of blowing it all off. He put up those numbers. Nobody can deny it.

Roids or not, he had a helluva swing. Pushing aside what he did is saying that everyone that does roids and has an incredible build/body could do the same. Some people talk like the roids were 100% the reason why he was so dominant but turn around and say that he was a HOF'er before he bulked up. Hitting a baseball is not easy. The way he could barrel up balls was incredible. The roids made him quicker, which gave him the slightest amount more time to diagnose a pitch (which is huge). They also made those he barreled up go farther. But still, what he did was awesome and I'm amazed by what he did (but NOT how he did it). Here's what I mean by being amazed by what he did: Link

To me, is this whole GOAT conversation about the absolute GOAT or the clean GOAT? I'm recently put myself on the fence as to whether or not to consider him, but no one can deny that he and others had a cheat code that many others didn't use. I'd say I'm a fan of what he did but not necessarily him. That said, there are some videos of him on Youtube, etc where he talks about hitting. Incredible stuff. Physical, mental, psychological things that go way beyond the Tom Emanski stuff. I could listen to him all day.

 

[CP87]

He's not even the greatest MLB player. People put too much fanfare into the pitching thing. Yes, it cool, and the past three years he's had video game offensive production but he's played 7 years total and only 3 of those at an otherworldly level. It's gonna take a whole lot longer to be the GOAT.

I honestly don't know baseball at all, I just hear 50-50, and combine that with the fact he is also a dominant pitcher, and it kind of blows me away. Has there ever been anyone else who could pull that off? Maybe Babe Ruth, but the MLB of 100 years ago is a lot different from that of today.

 

[CP87]

Would you consider Bonds in the GOAT conversation?

I used to be absolutely against it until I started reading about the different PED's that have been used since the 50's. I think you have to include everyone of them or none of them, and not base it on the extent to which they used it or were helped by it. I still think he's trash and I hope he doesn't get into the HOF, but I have at least started to take what he did and put a mental asterisk by it instead of blowing it all off. He put up those numbers. Nobody can deny it.

Roids or not, he had a helluva swing. Pushing aside what he did is saying that everyone that does roids and has an incredible build/body could do the same. Some people talk like the roids were 100% the reason why he was so dominant but turn around and say that he was a HOF'er before he bulked up. Hitting a baseball is not easy. The way he could barrel up balls was incredible. The roids made him quicker, which gave him the slightest amount more time to diagnose a pitch (which is huge). They also made those he barreled up go farther. But still, what he did was awesome and I'm amazed by what he did (but NOT how he did it). Here's what I mean by being amazed by what he did: Link

To me, is this whole GOAT conversation about the absolute GOAT or the clean GOAT? I'm recently put myself on the fence as to whether or not to consider him, but no one can deny that he and others had a cheat code that many others didn't use. I'd say I'm a fan of what he did but not necessarily him. That said, there are some videos of him on Youtube, etc where he talks about hitting. Incredible stuff. Physical, mental, psychological things that go way beyond the Tom Emanski stuff. I could listen to him all day.

I always cheered for Bonds because he was on my 1994 rotisserie league team. I didn't know squat about baseball, but I knew he was good, and he was one of the only offensive bright spots.

Other random players I cheered for their entire careers because they made their way onto one of my fantasy teams at some point:

Trent Dilfer
Brett Favre
Irving Fryar
Tim Brown