Shohei Ohtani, who makes $5 million a year, ranked higher than $2.2 billion Michael Jordan on Q score

Shohei Ohtani bests Chicago Bulls legend Michael Jordan in Q scores despite only 13% of Americans knowing about him.

Michael Jordan is most likely the greatest athlete of all time. There are hardly three or four other names that even come close to the kind of achievements and popularity Jordan garnered in his career.

But it seems MJ has a challenger ready to usurp his ranking on the Q scores. Shohei Ohtani, who plays for the Los Angeles Angels, has established himself as a baseball sensation.

What Ohtani has been doing day in and day out is unprecedented. He is one of a kind. The closest anybody comes to being like the Japanese national is perhaps Babe Ruth.

However, to be fair to Shohei, he has pushed the meaning of being a two-way player to a whole different level.

As a hitter, Ohtani has registered 34 home runs this season. In contrast, Kyle Schwarber, who has the second most homers in the league, has hammered 39.

On the other end, Ohtani has registered 196 strikeouts as a pitcher. His excellence from the bound dwarves even his hitting. All in all, the 6’4″ star is an MLB top ten player in home runs and also a top ten in players struck out.

Due to his dominance on both ends, Shohei Ohtani has already cemented his name among the greatest to ever play.

That being said, it’s hard to imagine anyone winning popularity and consumer appeal contest against MJ. Jordan, who’s built a $2.2 billion empire, is after all one of the most loved athletes of all time. However, Ohtani indeed has done it as per Sportico and Q scores.

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Shohei Ohtani stands 1st on the list while Michael Jordan comes a close second

Baseball’s marketing has always been more subtle than NBA or NFL. Especially NBA has been intensive and aggressive in its quest to make its players household names.

To be fair to NBA, it has very clearly achieved a chokehold over the American audience. Sportico’s report revealed that Michael Jordan and Shaquille O’Neal are known by over 75% of Americans over the age of 6.

Meanwhile, Shohei Ohtani was recognized by only 13% of the same sample. However, in the group of people that recognized Ohtani, an impressive 33% rated him as one of their favorites.

On the other hand, of the 76% of people that recognized MJ and 32% reported him as one of their favorites.

Shohei Ohtani doesn’t rank among MLB’s best paid, thanks to a low Angels salary, but his endorsements are tops in baseball at ~$9M/yr and has #1 Q Score in all of sports, nudging ahead of MJ, albeit w/much lower familiarity. https://t.co/EbzQZWNJ0E pic.twitter.com/IWQ9GKV013

— Kurt Badenhausen (@kbadenhausen) March 31, 2022

To make matters even more complicated, Shohei Ohtani, who is in his 5th season, will only draw a salary of $5.5 million this season.

In comparison, Luka Doncic, who will begin his 5th season in October, will draw a salary of $37 million. That’s almost 7-times Ohtani’s salary.

Do you think MLB should follow NBA’s footsteps and market its players better?

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