There aren’t many awards Shohei Ohtani is qualified for that he doesn’t wind up winning.
The Los Angeles Dodgers superstar won the Most Valuable Player Award for the third time in his career and the first time in the National League in 2024. But so far during the 2025 season, he’s been outdone by another NL designated hitter.
The Atlanta Braves’ Marcell Ozuna was the clear number-two DH in the NL last year behind Ohtani, and he’s bested the Japanese superstar so far in 2025. Ozuna leads all of baseball with 26 walks, resulting in an NL-best .473 on-base percentage.
However, Ozuna still has five months to go before he can claim to have had a better season than Ohtani. And one baseball writer doesn’t believe he’ll be able to keep outdueling his Dodgers counterpart.
On Tuesday, MLB.com’s Jason Foster predicted the All-MLB teams after the first month of action, and he projected that by the end of the season, Ohtani would edge out Ozuna for first-team designated hitter honors.
“Though Ohtani isn’t on pace (yet) to match his historic 50-50 season from 2024, he’s still putting up strong numbers,” Foster wrote.
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“His .908 OPS through Sunday is third among designated hitters and his six homers are tied for second-most among the group. Heading into Monday, he’s on pace for 35 homers this season, but don’t be surprised if that projection climbs in the coming weeks.”
Meanwhile, here’s what Foster had to say about Ozuna’s blazing start to the season:
“Through Sunday, Ozuna led all qualified designated hitters with a 1.030 OPS and .544 slugging percentage, and was tied for the MLB lead in walks (26). Since May 2, 2023, when it seemed he might be on his last legs as an MLB player, he’s hit .301 with a .951 OPS and had two straight seasons of 100 or more RBIs.”
Though he may not be an MVP candidate, Ozuna has made good on the contract he signed with the Braves, which is of course dwarfed by Ohtani’s deal with the Dodgers. The deal will total five years, $81 million after the season is up. Ozuna hits free agency in November.
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