Judge Or Ohtani: Who Would You Rather Have?

[cumberlandreds]

Ohtani is amazing. He may go down as one of the top 5 players in history before he is done.

[KeefeCato]

Anyone can DH. But you do have to have a DH. So you might as well have the best DHing.
I'll look at it this way. Would you rather have Lindor SS and JD Martinez DH
Or Ohtani DH and Migel Rojas SS?
I used Martinez and Rojas because it looks like they have had the most games at the positions for their teams.
I would take Ohtani over any NL player. I don't care what position he plays because you need someone at all 9 offensive positions.
Ohtani could absolutely play a good OF as well if he wasn't trying to pitch. He would have a clemente like arm from RF.

[westofyou]

Mookie Betts is hitting .379/.447/.655 with RISP this season

So essentially the duos of Ohtani/Betts and Judge/Soto give us all a glimpse of what Ruth/Gehrig was like

[medford]

^^^ He might go down as THE top player in MLB history when all is said and done. We shall see how he bounces back on the mound next season and what how injuries affect his career moving forward plus factoring in that he didn't come to the states until his age 23 season, which means he missed out on potentially 2-3 years of counting stats to guys like Mays and Ruth. That is pretty loft air right there. Add in Ted Williams who debuted around age 20 but also lost several years due to war service and that is a pretty high bar to clear. A lot of it will depend on his health and pitching ability over the next 10 seasons.

At any rate, he's a rare talent that might just bring about these debates in another 5 seasons.

[KeefeCato]

^^^ He might go down as THE top player in MLB history when all is said and done. We shall see how he bounces back on the mound next season and what how injuries affect his career moving forward plus factoring in that he didn't come to the states until his age 23 season, which means he missed out on potentially 2-3 years of counting stats to guys like Mays and Ruth. That is pretty loft air right there. Add in Ted Williams who debuted around age 20 but also lost several years due to war service and that is a pretty high bar to clear. A lot of it will depend on his health and pitching ability over the next 10 seasons.

At any rate, he's a rare talent that might just bring about these debates in another 5 seasons.

I personally think he should just hit and could play the OF if he gave up pitching. I think he would win gold gloves. He would cover a lot of ground and have a tremendous throwing arm.

[Mitri]

I personally think he should just hit and could play the OF if he gave up pitching. I think he would win gold gloves. He would cover a lot of ground and have a tremendous throwing arm.

Yeah he’d be fun to watch in RF but I’m excited to see him back on the hill next year too.

[RiverfrontRed]

It's easy to jump on the Ohtani train today!

- - - Updated - - -

Trout was once on the career path to be the GOAT, but something happened along the way...

[Danny Serafini]

The fact that the Angels had both and couldn't even put together a playoff team shows just how horribly mismanaged that franchise was.

[RedsManRick]

^^^ He might go down as THE top player in MLB history when all is said and done. We shall see how he bounces back on the mound next season and what how injuries affect his career moving forward plus factoring in that he didn't come to the states until his age 23 season, which means he missed out on potentially 2-3 years of counting stats to guys like Mays and Ruth. That is pretty loft air right there. Add in Ted Williams who debuted around age 20 but also lost several years due to war service and that is a pretty high bar to clear. A lot of it will depend on his health and pitching ability over the next 10 seasons.

At any rate, he's a rare talent that might just bring about these debates in another 5 seasons.

He's already 29. He'd need to string about 12 more of these seasons back-to-back to be in the GOAT conversation with Babe, Bonds, Mays, Aaron, Cobb, etc.

But who knows. If he can pitch and hit like this, you're looking at 12 WAR seasons and those add up quick.

[KeefeCato]

He's already 29. He'd need to string about 12 more of these seasons back-to-back to be in the GOAT conversation with Babe, Bonds, Mays, Aaron, Cobb, etc.

But who knows. If he can pitch and hit like this, you're looking at 12 WAR seasons and those add up quick.

I think he may be the greatest ever. Ruth was tge greatest of his day no doubt. He was so much better than any of his piers.
But he never faced 100 MPH pitches either. If Ruth were in his prime now. He would likely be in much better condition. But he wouldn't be able to swing the tree trunk bat he used now. Who knows if he were 30 and playing now he might have put up the same numbers he did in 1927 but that's highly debatable. I 100% believe if Ohtani was playing in 1927 he would put up even betters numbers then than he is now considering the pitchers he would be facing. Most of them topping out at maybe 80 mph and throwing 150 plus pitches per game
This doesn't mean Ohtani will put up historical career numbers like Ruth or Mays etc. He may only have 7-8 great years and then decline or maybe more serious injuries that take his hitting skills away at a younger age or simply might decline sooner than most.
But for a period of time he has been as good or better than anyone's peak years.
Like Koufax he was as good as anyone ever for a short time.