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In 2019, Mike Trout signed the largest contract in Major League baseball history and the second largest contract in American sports history. A whopping $426.5 million dollars over 12 years will go to what many have called the greatest baseball player of all time. This contract pays trout 35.5 million per year which equates to a little under 220 thousand dollars PER GAME.

Is Mike Trout worth this amount of money? Is any human worth this amount of money? I’ll leave that for you to decide. I’m not here to discuss whether or not a player like Trout should be paid this much. But rather, how much (in terms of comparison to current MLB contract valuations and on field performance) I think players like Trout will be paid.

In this case, Shohei Ohtani.

Baseball has long paid out the biggest bucks of any other sport and 2023 is no different. 9 out of the 12 biggest sports contracts worldwide currently belong to baseball with Patrick Mahomes’ (10yr – 450m)¹ holding the largest contract in sports. Mahomes’ contract will equate to around 45 to 50 million dollars each year. (These numbers exclude Cristiano Ronaldo’s contract with Al-Nassr due to its absurdity and lack of relevance to traditional sports contracts)

In terms of average annual value as opposed to total contract value, there’s a few more MLB players to add to the mix. Justin Verlander (2yr – 86.6m) and Max Scherzer (3yr – 130m) will both make $46.6 million this year.

There’s no question that Mahomes is the most consistently dominant quarterback in football right now, and it makes sense that Mahomes would have America’s largest athletic contract. But what if Mahomes played quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs and safety. What if Mahomes led the NFL in passing yards, touchdowns, and tackles?

Before I continue, it should be noted that being a great hitter and a great pitcher at the same time is not at all the same as being a super bowl winning quarterback while also playing elite defense in the same game. One of those things is impossible while the other is nearly impossible. I’m just trying to make a comparison.

I only raise that example to make a simple point. Being baseball’s most dominant hitter comes with a price tag of over 25 million dollars pretty consistently nowadays. I mean look at Trout, he’s making 10 million more than that. But being a great pitcher can bring just as much (i.e. Verlander, Scherzer).

Now, what if you’re both a great hitter and pitcher? Do you deserve $45 million for the work you do on both sides of the plate? If you pitch better than Justin Verlander and hit better than Mike Trout, do you deserve to make double what they’re making?

I also must mention that Shohei Ohtani is leading the league in HR, SLG, and OPS while being top-5 in H, 3B, and SO (P) as of July 5, 2023.

So if Shohei is baseball’s most dominant hitter, and one of baseball’s 5 best pitchers, how much money does he deserve come winter?

I think it all depends on who’s going to be buying. For example if a traditionally less frugal team like the Dodgers or Yankees signs Shohei, I predict his contract to be valued at over $600 million (Assuming a 10 year contract). That’s $30 million for each side of the plate and $14 million more annually than the next closest contract.

If Shohei signs with a smaller market team, (which seems increasingly more unlikely as time goes on) that number could be much closer to $50 million per year and might be smaller than ten years.

One thing is for certain: Shohei will sign the largest contract in MLB history. It will also very likely be larger than the $503 million to Mahomes that I mentioned earlier.

I’ve heard figures thrown out like, “3 years, 300 million dollars” and while that’s exciting, I don’t think it’s realistic. Yes, Shohei is the best player in the world right now but $100 million a year is such a far leap from the current record-breaking deal.

He’ll most likely make anywhere from 55-65 million dollars a year and will be wearing Dodger blue in 2024. A recipe for falling out of (most of) America’s good graces.

Chase that bag Shohei. But please don’t become a Dodger in the process. I don’t want to be forced into disliking you.

Bottom line: Shohei deserves the largest contract in MLB history. Regardless of how much it ends up being.

How much money do you think Shohei deserves? Feel free to comment on this post or on other social media platforms.

-Walker

¹ Patrick Mahomes’ contract value will fluctuate between 450 and 503 million based on on-field incentives.