Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani remade himself as a base stealer, and now 40-40 is a possibility

On a sleepy morning at the Oakland Coliseum in early August, MLB’s biggest marvel was in study hall. Shohei Ohtani was tucked into a corner of the visiting clubhouse, sitting alongside his interpreter, Will Ireton, and the Los Angeles Dodgers’ first-base coach, Clayton McCullough. Ohtani, the team’s two-way star, has swapped hitting and pitching for hitting and running this season as he recovers from Tommy John surgery, and he was coming off the first three-steal game of his career.

And yet, McCullough pointed out, Ohtani had something to work on. So he pulled up video of Ohtani’s second steal of the night. Ohtani swiped second with relative ease, but got what McCullough called a terrible jump off the Athletics left-hander Kyle Muller. Ohtani nodded, and as they went to the next day’s array of pitchers, the player found a tell.

“He’s impressed me with how much he picks up,” McCullough said.

Ohtani has taken advantage of his newfound freedom on the basepaths. With 39 stolen bases (in 43 attempts), he long obliterated his previous career high for stolen bases (26, in 2021). On a list of plodding sluggers, Ohtani has set the single-season record for a primary designated hitter. The previous stolen base record for a DH was 22, by Gary Sheffield in 2007. This season, only Cincinnati’s Elly De La Cruz (60, as of Wednesday) has stolen more bases than Ohtani.

“I do think 40-40 is something that was on his radar from spring training,” manager Dave Roberts said.

The 40-homer, 40-steal feat has been accomplished only five times in major league history: by José Canseco (1988), Barry Bonds (1996), Alex Rodriguez (1998), Alfonso Soriano (2006) and Ronald Acuña Jr. (2023).

Ohtani said recently that 40-40 was not an explicit goal, but “if that’s the end result of what the season is, then I’m happy for it.”

Ohtani has 39 home runs and 39 steals this season, and is on a pace for 49 and 49. He could end up being the first MLB player to have a 45-45 season. (Other 40-40 members have had more homers or more stolen bases, but Ohtani would be the first to hit the pair of 45 milestones in the same season.)

The Dodgers figured he would be able to swipe a few bases. They thought Ohtani’s sprint speed, which ranks in the 72nd percentile in the majors, would afford him opportunities. Those chances have only increased as the season has gone on. He was successful on five consecutive attempts in the first month of the season. He was 8 for 8 in May and 3 for 5 in June. But after 14 attempts (12 successful) in July, he is 11 for 11 this month.

“I think he has bought into stealing bases, understands the value of the stolen base, getting 90 feet,” said Roberts, who once swiped 49 bases in a season. “Hasn’t surprised me. I think it’s welcome for me, for him, because he’s in a pennant race now. And I don’t think he’s been in a pennant race in his big-league career. So his enhanced focus is not a surprise to me.”

It should come as no surprise that Ohtani has performed the best he ever has on the basepaths, according to FanGraphs’s all-encompassing baserunning metric, as well. This, Roberts said, reflects playing in games that matter after years of losing in Anaheim. It is more than simply chasing round numbers in what could be his third MVP season.

As McCullough went through the scouting reports with Ohtani that early August morning in Oakland, Austin Barnes chimed in — not to give his thoughts as a backstop, but to chide Ohtani about how much better of a base-stealer McCullough was making him.

“I don’t know if you can be surprised” by him, McCullough said, speaking of Ohtani. “Like anything else he does, he puts his mind on something, he’s in and picks up things during the game. We’re watching video before, and he’s helped me a ton. We’re breaking things down, and I’ll get fixated on something, and then he’s like, look at this or that.

“I think he’s always been a student of these things. I think now with having less on his plate from a preparation standpoint and the pitching, more focus can be put on it.”

Sometimes, it is things even McCullough has not noticed as he pores through video and scouting reports for opportune times to run. That three-steal game started from the game’s very first pitch, as Ohtani drew a walk and knew exactly what he wanted for a proper jump on Oakland’s starter, Mitch Spence. He swiped second base safely on the first pitch after he reached.

“His eye for things has been impressive,” McCullough said. And as Ohtani has worked on other details, like proper running form to get acceleration on his jumps, the steals have followed.

The power was a given. The speed was coming. And even in a year in which Ohtani is not pitching, his assault on the record books continues.

“He’s trying to dominate on every margin,” Roberts said. “That’s what makes him great.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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