Quote:
Originally Posted by PilotMan
True, but Ruth's upside is his pure dominance as a hitter versus the rest of the league sets him apart the other way..
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I suppose I'm making a slightly different comparison of the two. Of course, what Ruth did as a hitter was revolutionary versus what anyone else who had played baseball had (or has since, even including Bonds) done. Otani would have to hit, what, 90-100 HRs in a year to come close to that level of dominance versus the rest of the league?
What I'm really looking at is not just that both of them were good-great pitchers and hitters in MLB, but doing so at the same time. And I think Otani has already surpassed Ruth in that comparison. 1919 is the only season Ruth was even close to "all in" as both a hitter and pitcher. He hit 29 HRs in 430 ABs, but as a pitcher, he only threw 133 innings and started 15 games at a time when 300 IP was common. So even in his ultimate "crossover" year, Ruth didn't really commit full-time to pitching.
Otani, OTOH, is about to have his 3rd straight year of 500+ ABs and 30+ HRs, AND start 20+ games throwing 130+ innings at a time when starting pitchers rarely break 200 IP. Even if you discount his pitching numbers by not giving him credit for the way SPs are used in modern times, he's still surpassed Ruth for the number of years both hitting and pitching at a high level during the same seasons. And unless he ends up with some sort of arm injury where he just decides to stop pitching (or he gets older and decides to just concentrate on one thing to save his body), he's likely going to keep piling on the dual-role seasons for the foreseeable future.