Major League Baseball

Pitching Ninja's 2023 awards: Shohei Ohtani highlights Pitch of the Year

Published Nov. 8, 2023 2:01 p.m. ET

For baseball fans on social media, the end of the MLB season means only one thing: The beginning of the highly anticipated and esteemed 2023 Pitching Ninja Awards!

Every year, I use these awards to highlight some of my favorite moments that took place during the baseball season. My awards are currently being unveiled, but here are the ones I've given out so far, ranging from the prestigious to the absurd.

2023 Pitch of the Year. Winner: Shohei Ohtani striking out Mike Trout to win the WBC

One of the most prestigious awards, this prize goes to the biggest, most important pitch of the year. Surprisingly, this year's award went to a pitch that took place in March, before the MLB season even started!

This was much more than just a single, nasty pitch. It was Shohei Ohtani unambiguously staking his claim to the title of "Best Baseball Player on the Planet," as the last at-bat of the WBC famously came down to Team Japan's captain (Ohtani) vs. USA Team captain (Trout) — two superhero teammates and friends facing off against one another, while representing their home countries.

With the nod of acknowledgment by Trout and the stare back by Ohtani, the duel was on. After battling to a 3-2 count, with Shohei throwing blazing fastballs up to 102 mph, Ohtani finished Trout off with this unhittable sweeper, sending Team Japan to victory. The ending of the WBC couldn't have been scripted any better, adding another chapter to the legend of the "Unicorn" that is Shohei Ohtani.

2023 Most Unfair At-Bat Award. Winner: Jhoan Duran.

Jhoan Duran undoubtedly has some of the most jaw-dropping stuff in baseball and he showed it all off in this epic at-bat.

He started off with a ridiculous 100 mph Splinker. Yes, an "off-speed" pitch at 100 mph. Duran then followed that up with a perfectly painted 104 mph fastball and ended the at-bat with an absolute hammer 90 mph curveball. Babe Ruth would have quit the sport and curled up in a fetal position after seeing this sequence.

Here are those Duran pitches overlaid, and you can see how totally unfair this sequence was.

2023 Most Unfair At-Bat Award by a Starting Pitcher. Winner: Mason Miller

As a rookie pitching in the first game of his career, Mason Miller burst onto the scene showing just what he can do when he's at his best. Miller made Patrick Wisdom look like he'd never seen a pitch before — annihilating Wisdom with a combination of vicious sliders and flaming fastballs up to 102 mph. At one point, Wisdom resorted to just sticking out his bat and hoping the ball would hit it. Pure domination by the young Athletics starter Miller.

2023 Best Imitation of an Umpire Award. Winner: Yankees manager Aaron Boone.

Aaron Boone had enough of Laz Díaz's strike zone and launched into an epic tirade. This outburst culminated with Boone drawing a line off the plate where he thought the location of the last "bad call" was, a classic imitation of Díaz's punchout call, and Boone punctuating his show by walking over to Díaz and yelling "you stink" right in Díaz's face. The Three Stooges have nothing on Aaron Boone.

2023 Best Imitation of a Rabbit Award. Winner: Spencer Strider.

A face-off of the herbivores. Strider is on the left if you're confused.

2023 Most Chaotic Overlay Award. Winner: Cole Ragans

Cole Ragans had a breakout season this year, winning my "Who? to HIM" Award by turning into one of the best starting pitchers in baseball after getting traded by the Rangers to the Royals.

However, in this game against the Blue Jays, things got weird. After throwing five scoreless innings, Ragans threw three consecutive VERY wild pitches allowing the Blue Jays to tie the game.

Hilariously, here are those 3 pitches overlaid. There are Ragans and baseballs everywhere!

2023 Best Spike of a First Pitch. Winner: Travis Kelce

You can take the guy off the football field, but you can't take football out of the guy. My man nearly killed Shane Bieber, who was out there to catch the first pitch from the Kansas City Chiefs star tight end. Luckily, Bieber was able to Shake It Off.

2023 Award for Sarcastic Over-compliance. Winner: Nestor Cortes

Hilariously, Nestor got called for a quick pitch because he didn't wait until the hitter made eye contact…so he followed up the quick pitch with an "extra-long pitch" and was like: Hey ump, is that slow enough for ya??!!

There will be many more awards coming out over the next few days so keep your eyes open for some more highlights (and lowlights)!

Rob Friedman is an MLB pitching analyst for FOX Sports whose work has been featured on many Major League Baseball broadcasts. Follow him on Twitter @PitchingNinja.