Shohei Ohtani gets 2nd AP top male athlete honor in 3 years - ESPN

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Before Shohei Ohtani stepped into the bright lights of Hollywood and signed the most lucrative contract in U.S. professional sports history, baseball's two-way superstar put together yet another season of unparalleled brilliance from Tokyo to Anaheim.

What can this singular talent possibly do next? The Los Angeles Dodgers are eagerly paying $700 million to see for themselves.

But what Ohtani already did in 2023 — both for the Los Angeles Angels and for Japan in the World Baseball Classic — is the reason he was selected as The Associated Press' Male Athlete of the Year for the second time in three years.

«Shohei is arguably the most talented player who's ever played this game,» said Andrew Friedman, the Dodgers' president of baseball operations, after signing Ohtani to a 10-year contract last week.

Ohtani edged Inter Miami superstar Lionel Messi and tennis great Novak Djokovic for the AP honor in voting by a panel of sports media professionals.

Ohtani received 20 of 87 votes, while Messi and Djokovic got 16 apiece. Nikola Jokic, the Denver Nuggets' NBA Finals MVP, got 12 votes.

After winning his first AP Male Athlete of the Year award in 2021, Ohtani has joined an impressive list of two-time winners of the honor, which was first handed out in 1931.

Multiple-time winners include Don Budge, Byron Nelson, Carl Lewis, Joe Montana, Michael Jordan, Michael Phelps and four-time honorees Tiger Woods and Lance Armstrong. Four-time winner LeBron James is another generational superstar who chose Los Angeles as a free agent, while two-time honoree Sandy Koufax remains one of the greatest players to wear Dodger Blue.

Ohtani has upended decades of conventional wisdom during his six years in the majors, even surpassing