It seems nearly impossible to escape talk of Los Angeles Dodgers two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani these days. The 30-year-old 2024 MVP is all over MLB's social media, billboards, commercials, and just about any baseball media you can come across. However, Atlanta Braves designated hitter Marcell Ozuna made sure he didn't appear in ESPN's latest for April standouts ($).
ESPN crowned April All-Stars, surprises, and disappointments, and the Dodgers designated hitter's name is no where to be found, while Ozuna takes the honors for the month.
Marcell Ozuna receives national recognition from ESPN for best DH of April
The consistent coverage of Ohtani could lead any fan to believe that the Dodgers DH is currently on pace for a historic season like Aaron Judge of the Yankees currently is having. However, the Japanese global sensation is looking rather human, at least by his standards.
His .286/.375/.533 slashline comes out to a 151 wRC+, which for most players could be a career year, but for Ohtani, it's about 30% worse than his past two seasons in the bigs.
Meanwhile the Braves DH, Marcell Ozuna, is on a tear. Despite only hitting five homers and three doubles, Ozuna currently has a 190 wRC+, good for the third-best hitter in the majors behind only Aaron Judge and Pete Alonso. If you take wRC+ at face value, this would mean that Ozuna has been roughly 40% better as a hitter than Ohtani has been.
Ozuna has shown off impressive plate discipline this season, walking at an MLB best clip of 24.8%. His 26 walks are tied for most in the majors with Matt Chapman, who has played five more games than Ozuna.
This overall slash was impressive enough for ESPN to declare him the best DH of the month. The sports media giant also noted that the only player who has carried Ozuna's walk rate across a full season was Barry Bonds during the four season span where pitchers refused to pitch to him. ESPN also points out that unlike Bonds, Ozuna has drawn no intentional walks.
Ozuna was the only member of the Braves to make ESPN's top players of the month, but it was certainly deserved. Not only did he completely outperform one of the greatest players in the game over the course of a month, his offense helped keep a Braves team afloat that struggled through the first two weeks of the season.
With his contract ending at the end of the season, Atlanta might be wise to go-ahead and re-up his deal for the next few seasons, rather than try to sell at the deadline.