Even Shohei Ohtani's 'slump' has him barreling towards one-of-a-kind season for Dodgers

Shohei Ohtani has been having a bad August, or has he? Ohtani's month has been all kinds of confusing, so it's sort of hard to say. On Aug. 11, he saw his batting average dip below .300 for the first time since April 5, and it's sitting at .290 as of Aug. 20. He only has 13 hits in 72 at-bats and has struck out 17 times while only walking six times unintentionally. He's still batting .223 with a .330 slugging with runners in scoring position.

But he's also hit seven homers, batted in 12 runs, and stolen nine bases in his first 16 games of the month. His 39 homers lead the National League, and his 37 stolen bases are second only to speed freak of nature Elly De La Cruz. At this rate, Ohtani becoming the newest member of the 40-40 Club and the fastest player to ever reach that mark is inevitable. A 45-45 season isn't out of the realm of imagination at all. If he can do it, he would be the only player in MLB history to accomplish that feat.

So has Ohtani had a bad August or an amazing one? It's still hard to say.

Shohei Ohtani is well on the way to a 45-45 season, even in the worst August of his career

With Ohtani's batting average having slipped to .290, he seems to be well out of the realm of NL Triple Crown contention, but a 45-45 season would quite literally make him one-of-a-kind. The closest anyone has gotten is arguably either Alex Rodriguez, who went 42-46 in 1998, or Ronald Acuña, who went an unbelievable 41-73 last season. Alfonso Soriano is the only player to hit over 45 homers, but he fell four stolen bases short of 45.

FanGraphs' projections for his next 30+ games has Ohtani hitting 10 more homers for 49 total on the season, but only stealing seven more bases and falling just shy of 45. This is indicative of Ohtani's lopsided OBP versus slugging through August so far: .227 to .522. He's getting more impatient at the plate, but if the Dodgers could just get him to slow down and walk a little more, he's an instant stolen base threat. Eight more to get over the 45 line could come easily.

We're officially on 45-45 watch, and if Ohtani can actually make it happen, he'll all but solidify his bid for NL MVP.