Braves legend Chipper Jones drops blunt verdict on Barry Bonds vs. Shohei Ohtani debate

After one of the most extraordinary individual seasons in 2024, Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani is seen by many fans as the greatest MLB player of all time.

Taking Ohtani's two-way abilities into account, analyst Ben Verlander wrote on X (formerly Twitter), that his vote for the GOAT debate went to the Japanese star.

According to Braves legend Chipper Jones, however, seven-time NL MVP Barry Bonds trumps Ohtani in that regard, due to his outstanding defense and base running in addition to his incredible hitting ability.

"May wanna check those gold gloves and stolen base numbers on Bonds…..he was a bit more than ‘just’ a hitter. I hear where ur coming from on Ohtani, but he doesn’t pitch enough and doesn’t play a position on D to be in the [GOAT] convo yet IMO." Chipper Jones wrote, replying to Ben Verlander's original post

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Playing as a left fielder, Bonds won eight Gold Gloves in his career. Shohei Ohtani, on the other hand, has only played as a DH since he joined the Dodgers and is expected to pitch for the team for the first time this season.

Barry Bonds' former teammate claims Shohei Ohtani's hitting ability in clutch situations is 'unlike anything he's ever seen'

Dave Roberts, the Dodgers manager, also played alongside Barry Bonds back when he was on the books of the San Francisco Giants in 2007.

As reported by insider Bob Nightengale via X (formerly Twitter) on Saturday, May 10, Roberts talked about Ohtani's one quality that is "unlike anything he has ever seen" in his career so far.

"Between him and Barry Bonds, they’re the two best players I’ve ever seen. I played with Barry. But what Shohei Ohtani does in the clutch, I’ve never seen anything like what he does in the clutch.” Roberts said

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Though Barry Bonds has a massive advantage over Shohei Ohtani in terms of All-Star selections and MVP awards, the Japanese star can stake his claim in other categories with his two-way prowess.

Also, Ohtani won his first World Series ring in 2024, a feat Bonds never achieved.

About the author

Raghav Mehta is a baseball journalist at Sportskeeda awaiting results for a Bachelor's in Journalism from Delhi University. He enjoys highlighting the key battles between players at different stages of the game and analyzing the decisive moments upon which they hinge.

One of Raghav's favorite moments, which underscores this, was the Shohei Ohtani vs. Mike Trout clash in the 2023 WBC, where two of baseball's best players faced off against each other in the 9th inning. With the score 3-2 to Japan, Shohei eventually got the strikeout, which was absolute cinema.

Raghav is a Baltimore Orioles fan and is enjoying watching such an exciting young team compete at the top in a very competitive division.

Raghav has loved watching sports for as long as he can remember and realized he was pretty decent at writing his thoughts down at around the age of 14. Combining the two meant he had something he would enjoy doing every day, and he had identified that well before going to college.

Aside from work, Raghav enjoys playing sports, working out and watching movies.

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Edited by Chaitanya Prakash