{"id":249054,"date":"2025-10-24T17:30:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-24T17:30:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/249054\/"},"modified":"2025-10-24T17:30:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T17:30:09","slug":"alex-rodriguez-gives-shohei-ohtani-the-highest-compliment-ahead-of-world-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/249054\/","title":{"rendered":"Alex Rodriguez Gives Shohei Ohtani “The Highest Compliment” Ahead of World Series"},"content":{"rendered":"

Not only is Alex Rodriguez<\/a> one of the greatest baseball players of all-time, but he’s competed against the best as well. You might go so far as to call A-Rod an expert on the matter and with the lofty status he laid “the highest compliment I can give” on the latest megastar the sport has produced: Los Angeles Dodgers<\/a> dual threat sensation Shohei Ohtani<\/a>. <\/p>\n

“The best player I ever seen in my life, by a long shot, is Barry Bonds<\/a>” Rodriguez told Matt Leinart <\/a>and Jerry Ferrara<\/a> on the latest episode of the Throwbacks<\/a> podcast. “He could just do everything on the field. The hardest worker, the smartest. The guy was just a freak. The best pitcher I ever saw was Roger Clemens<\/a>. Seven Cy Young <\/a>(awards), just a complete warrior and played for 25 years. Ohtani is a combination of both.”<\/p>\n

Heading into his second World Series<\/a>, Ohtani’s performance is worthy of those superlatives. The five-time All Star has won three of the last four MVP awards and is assumed to be a lock for another this year. His historic Game 4 performance in the National League Championship Series<\/a> with three home runs at the plate and 10 strikeouts on the mound won him the NLCS MVP.<\/p>\n

“That’s the highest compliment I can give,” Rodriguez added. “I’ve never seen anyone like that in my lifetime. And I don’t think in our lifetime we’ll ever see anything like that again. It’s really phenomenal and special what we’re seeing.” <\/p>\n

At 31 years old, some are beginning to wonder just where Ohtani lands in the hallowed list of the greatest basketball players of all-time. A sport that dates back centuries has only seen a few dual threat sluggers who also took the mound, but nothing to the extent of what Ohtani is doing. Another World Series championship, and a performance that is anywhere in the stratosphere of what he did in Game 4 of the NLCS vs. the Brewers will further cement his status amongst those greats. <\/p>\n

“You hear the term a ‘Ruthian feat’ going back to Babe Ruth<\/a> over 100 years ago,” Rodriguez told Throwbacks. “I think this young man is getting to the point where it’s like is this an ‘Ohtanian’ feat? Really the definition goes above and beyond any sport. It transcends sports.”<\/p>\n

New episodes of \u201cThrowbacks<\/a>\u201d drop every Thursday. Watch on YouTube<\/a>, or listen on Apple Podcasts<\/a>, Spotify<\/a>, or wherever you get podcasts. Follow the show @ThrowbacksShow on Instagram<\/a>, Twitter<\/a>, TikTok<\/a>, and Facebook<\/a> for bonus content. <\/p>\n