SF Giants legend Barry Bonds had a recent interview where he spoke on a number of subjects, including star Los Angeles Dodgers player Shohei Ohtani. Bonds said he thinks Ohtani should not be a two-way player and should stick to hitting.
Bonds appeared on the Foul Territory show hosted by Bonds' former teammate A.J. Pierzynski, Ken Rosenthal, Erik Kratz, and Scott Braun. The full video can be watched here.
Pierzynski is sort of like the opposite of a Forever Giant. He was on the team, but everyone would rather forget that he was given the fact that he was seen as a horrible clubhouse presence while he was in San Francisco.
Bonds was nice to him in this interview even when Pierzynski joked about all of the double plays he hit into while he was on the Giants. "At least you tried," Barry said in response.
SF Giants legend Barry Bonds has advice for Shohei Ohtani
But I digress, Bonds was asked by Rosenthal about Ohtani and his 50 home run and 50 stolen base season in 2024. Rosenthal asked Bonds if he thinks he ever could have done that and Bonds said the only chance he would have had was in 1994 which was a strike-shortened season. He had 37 home runs and 29 stolen bases through 112 games that season, so he may well have been on pace to have 50 homers and 50 stolen bases if he continued at that same pace.
One of the hosts brought up the fact that now Ohtani is going to try to pitch again which prompted Bonds to say, "I think he needs to stay a DH and do what he does best." He went on to say that he thinks pitching will tire Ohtani out too much. While Bonds thinks he could maybe be used as a late-inning reliever where he just pitches an inning at a time, he thinks the wear and tear of being a starter would negatively impact his performance at the plate.
Bonds may well be right, and we as Giants fans can only hope that Ohtani returning to the mound will make him a worse pitcher and a worse hitter. Ohtani did win the NL MVP Award last season as a designated hitter, so it is hard to argue that the Dodgers should try to change anything.
Yet, it does seem like Ohtani is going to try to start pitching in major league games again in May. Let's hope that he somehow turns into the October version of Clayton Kershaw on the mound and turns into the San Francisco Giants version of A.J. Pierzynski at the plate as he tries to return to his status as baseball's premier two-way threat.