Shohei Ohtani was voted the majors’ best designated hitter for the second consecutive season.
The Los Angeles Angels’ two-way slugger won the Edgar Martinez Outstanding Designated Hitter Award on Monday, beating out Houston’s Yordan Alvarez as the top player at the position in 2022.
The winner is chosen by a panel of 100 media members and public relations employees.
Ohtani, who finished second in the AL MVP voting, is the first player to win the designated hitter trophy in back-to-back years since David Ortiz won it five straight times (2003-07).
Ohtani batted .273 with 34 homers, 95 RBIs, 11 stolen bases, and a .875 OPS that was good for 10th in the majors. He led all designated hitters with at least 100 at-bats in hits, runs, total bases, triples, homers, RBIs, and walks, while his six multi-homer games tied Troy Glaus’s franchise record with the Angels. Ohtani also had an 18-game hitting streak during the season.
Alvarez finished second in the voting after an outstanding offensive season with the World Series champion Astros, but the Cuban slugger played only 77 games as a DH. He finished third in the AL MVP voting behind the Yankees’ Aaron Judge and Ohtani.
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Astros land Abreu
First baseman José Abreu and the world champion Astros agreed on a three-year contract, expected to be worth about $60 million.
Abreu, who turns 36 in January, won the American League MVP award in 2020. He hit .304 this year with the White Sox, his MLB team for nine seasons after defecting from Cuba. The White Sox extended Abreu for three years and $50 million after 2019, when he led the AL with 123 RBIs
Clevinger finds a home
The White Sox bolstered their rotation, agreeing to a one-year contract with righthander Mike Clevinger, a person familiar with the agreement told the Associated Press. The person spoke on condition of anonymity Monday because the deal was subject to a successful physical. The 31-year-old Clevinger went 7-7 with a 4.33 ERA in 23 games, including 22 starts, for San Diego this year. He missed the 2021 season after he had Tommy John surgery. Chicago is looking to bounce back from a disappointing 2022 season, when it went 81-81 and finished 11 games back of surprising AL Central champion Cleveland. Hall of Fame manager Tony La Russa stepped down in October and Pedro Grifol was hired Nov. 1. The move puts the 6-foot-4-inch Clevinger back in the AL Central after he made his major league debut with Cleveland in 2016. He went 42-22 with a 3.20 ERA in four-plus seasons with Cleveland before he was traded to San Diego in a multiplayer deal in August 2020 . . . Twins owner Jim Pohlad has handed day-to-day operations of the club to his nephew Joe Pohlad, the third generation of family leadership of the franchise, it was announced in a letter to staff made public by the Twins.
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