Dusty Baker: Ohtani is ‘most incredible athlete I’ve ever seen in baseball’

Dusty Baker has seen a lot in his baseball career.

The Houston Astros manager was teammates with multiples legends, such as Hank Aaron, in his playing days. In his managing career, Baker has also coached icons and stars such as Barry Bonds, Joey Votto, Bryce Harper and Max Scherzer, to go along with his World Series-winning Astros team last season. 

But for him, one player stands out above all of them: Shohei Ohtani.

Baker will get the chance to coach the Los Angeles Angels’ two-way superstar in the All-Star Game for the second straight year on Tuesday (8 p.m. ET on FOX and the FOX Sports app). When speaking to reporters ahead of the Summer Classic on Monday, he couldn’t help but praise Ohtani while giving him the highest compliment. 

“He’s the most incredible athlete I’ve ever seen in baseball,” Baker said. “I’ve seen some great players, but I mean none that can both run like the wind, throw a hundred miles an hour and hit as well as anybody in the game.”

Even though Baker has only coached Ohtani once, he’s plenty familiar with him. Ohtani is a division rival, as the Astros and Angels play over a dozen times a season. Just as he has against every team this season, Ohtani has done damage at the plate against the Astros. He’s hitting .310 with a .954 OPS and seven RBIs in seven games against the defending champions. 

Ohtani hasn’t pitched as well against the Astros as he has against other teams this season, going 0-2 with a 4.85 ERA. He’s allowed seven earned runs in 13 innings pitched against Houston. 

But Ohtani’s put up good numbers against the Astros over his career. Even though he has a 3-5 record, Ohtani’s posted a 3.75 ERA in 12 starts against Houston, throwing a whopping 81 strikeouts in 62 ⅓ innings pitched. And all of those starts against the Astros have come during a time when their lineup has dominated baseball, as no team has had more success than them since 2017, the year before Ohtani entered the majors.

While it takes a certain fiery competitiveness to play as well as Ohtani has, Baker has only seen the opposite of him on the field. 

“Everybody would love to have him on their roster,” Baker said. “We play them quite often in the same division as them, so we have to battle against him pitching and hitting. He’s probably one of the most polite, most honorable opponents that we face.”

That kindness made Baker admit that there’s another element of toughness when facing Ohtani. 

“I feel badly because sometimes he’s trying to nod to me before the game starts, and I’m looking down because I don’t want to look at him,” Baker said. “Because he will nod and then hit a home run over the fence, and then I got to get on my wife, who is Filipino, for taking a picture when he comes across home plate.”