Insane stat that all but sums up why Shohei Ohtani left Angels for Dodgers

Shohei Ohtani has been with the Dodgers for a few years now, but even as he's become a familiar face on the field for Dodgers fans, both he and the Dodgers themselves have remained the talk of baseball ever since the club's explosive 2023-24 offseason, when the club added not only Ohtani but Tyler Glasnow, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and several other key pieces.

Ohtani's decision to join the Dodgers has drawn plenty of attention and criticism over the years, including recent grumbling about rule changes made to accommodate Ohtani's unique talents. Shots from around the league are hardly new for the Dodgers, of course, but anyone who thinks that heading to Chavez Ravine wasn't a slam dunk decision for Ohtani might want to look at a mind-blowing stat that made the rounds on social media recently.

According to OptaSTATS, Ohtani has gotten a great deal more protection from his hitters with the Dodgers than he ever got in Anaheim. Dodgers hitters have slashed a combined .457/.535/.714 in plate appearances immediately following an intentional walk of Ohtani. That's incredible production, even when one considers that he's spent most of his Dodgers career hitting in front of some combination of Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, and Will Smith.

Those are the kind of numbers that are certain to give opposing managers pause before they hold up four fingers from the dugout. The contrast between that gaudy stat line and the Angels' paltry excuse for production in those same situations is stark. OptaSTATS relayed the work of Angels hitters when following up on an intentional walk to Ohtani, and they mustered only a .148/.207/.167 slash line in those situations while he was a member of the team.

Shohei Ohtani's decision to leave the Angels was even more important than his decision to join the Dodgers

As phenomenal as those numbers from Ohtani's supporting cast with the Dodgers may be, this stat is at least as much an indictment of the Angels. It's well-known at this point that hitters perform better when there's ducks on the pond, and Jeff Zimmerman of Fangraphs wrote back in 2015 that the average hitter will see their OPS jump 31 points when there's runners on base.

That Angels hitters were only able to muster a pathetic .374 OPS when hitting behind Ohtani following an intentional walk shows that opposing managers didn't have to think twice about facing the rest of their lineup. Given that, it's no surprise that opposing managers intentionally walked Ohtani 55 times over his final three years with the Angels. At the same time, it's fair to think that even joining an average team could've left Ohtani much more protected than he was with his old club.

Freeman, Betts, Smith, and others have all be phenomenal assets when hitting behind Ohtani, creating a difficult decision for rival managers in plenty of big moments. With that said, it wouldn't take a group that stacked to be a major improvement over the likes of Anthony Rendon, Brandon Drury, Jared Walsh, Luis Rengifo, and an assortment of other lackluster hitters who the Angels used to "protect" Ohtani.

Even if Ohtani went to another suitor like the Blue Jays, Cubs, or Giants, he would surely have better protection than that. Combine that with the fact that Ohtani could very well beon his way to his best season yet this year, and it's clear that the Dodgers need Ohtani more than he needs them. True as that may be, it's still clear that he made the correct decision by leaving the Angels behind and heading down the Santa Ana Freeway.

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