For the second time in three years, Shohei Ohtani has won the AP Male Athlete of the Year title, defeating Novak Djokovic and Lionel Messi in the process.
The 24-time Grand Slam champion Djokovic and Inter Miami’s Messi shared 16 of the 87 votes, while the baseball player garnered 20 of them. The NBA Finals MVP, Nikola Jokic of the Nuggets, garnered twelve votes.
The two-way star in baseball recently inked a $700 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers, the richest sports deal in history.
Shohei Ohtani was named AP Male Athlete of the Year for the second time in three years
The baseball star received 20 of the 87 votes, with Inter Miami star Lionel Messi earning 16
But even before they did, he delivered yet another season of unmatched excellence for the World Baseball Classic squad representing Japan and the Los Angeles Angels.
“Shohei is possibly the most gifted player in the history of this game,” Dodgers manager Andrew Friedman declared following Ohtani’s 10-year contract agreement.
Ohtani has now become a member of an elite group of past recipients of the prize, which was originally given out in 1931. Among them are four-time champion Tiger Woods, Carl Lewis, Joe Montana, Michael Jordan, Michael Phelps, and Michael Jordan.
Ohtani trailed Yankees batter Aaron Judge in the 2022 voting.
In his six years in the major leagues, Ohtani has defied decades of conventional thinking, outperforming Babe Ruth in many instances despite playing in a far more challenging era.
Ohtani’s spectacular MVP performance for Japan’s World Baseball Classic squad, which included a game-winning strikeout of Angels teammate Mike Trout, kicked off this year.
Novak Djokovic was beaten by Ohtani despite winning three more Grand Slams in 2023
Then, in spite of an early season ending due to a pitching elbow injury he sustained in August, he produced his third straight outstanding season in Anaheim, both at bat and on the mound.
With 44 home runs, 78 extra-base hits, 325 total bases, and an OPS of 1.066 as a designated hitter, Ohtani led the AL.
At the time of his injury, he was ranked third in the league with a 3.14 ERA, second in the league with 11.39 strikeouts per nine innings, and kept hitters to an AL-best.184 batting average.
“Nobody compares to him, and there’s nothing that you would say he can’t do,” late in the season former Angels manager Phil Nevin stated. With Sho, anything is possible. There aren’t many other baseball players in history about whom you could claim that.
After relocating to the US, Messi led Inter Miami to Leagues Cup triumph, while Djokovic was one victory away from completing the year’s Grand Slam at Wimbledon.