The biggest piece of MLB award hardware Shohei Ohtani has yet to win is a Cy Young.

On Monday, he earned a smaller career-first honor that put him on track to do so this year.

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For the first time since coming to the majors, Ohtani received Pitcher of the Month recognition along with the Angels’ José Soriano, after the two Southland pitchers led the National and American Leagues, respectively, in ERA during March and April (among pitchers with at least 30 innings).

While Soriano’s rise has been unexpected, with the 27-year-old going from a 10-11 record and 4.26 ERA last year to a stunning 5-1 mark and 0.84 ERA this season, Ohtani’s re-emergence on the mound has been one of the biggest early-season stories in baseball.

The two-way star is back in a full-time pitching role for the first time since undergoing a second career Tommy John surgery in 2023.

And while he flashed promise in a limited pitching workload last year, posting a 2.87 ERA over 47 innings, this level of dominance has exceeded even the lofty expectations the Dodgers had for him.

In five starts, Ohtani has gone six innings each time while allowing only two total earned runs for a 0.60 ERA and 0.81 WHIP. He has 34 strikeouts against only nine walks. He hasn’t allowed more than five hits in any of his outings, mowing down opponents with an at times 100-mph fastball and impossible seven-pitch mix.

The only challenge the 31-year-old has encountered so far this year: Balancing his pitching duties with a slow start offensively, as he enters Monday with a .246 batting average and .824 OPS.

Alas, the Dodgers aren’t shying away from his two-way capabilities. When he makes his next pitching start Tuesday, manager Dave Roberts said he is leaning towards letting Ohtani DH as well (something he hasn’t done in two of his last three pitching appearances).

The only real mark on Ohtani’s arm thus far: His 30 innings are only the 55th-most in the National League, too few to even be qualified for the ERA title at the moment.

Despite that, he already looks like a prime Cy Young candidate, with Monday’s award marking an important first step in his pursuit of more unprecedented history.