Another day, another majestic blast from Angels' two-way star Shohei Ohtani. This time it was a 463-foot blast in Seattle's T-Mobile Park that landed in an area very few homers ever do. The stats don't do it justice, either. Just look at this thing:
Ridiculous. The Mariners announced it is the sixth time a home run made it up into that deck. The ballpark opened for the 1999 season.
The shot was Ohtani's 33rd of the season. He's not going to set the record for the most pre-All-Star break home runs, but he's not trailing many. Here's the list above Ohtani.
1. Barry Bonds, 39, 2001
2. Chris Davis, 37, 2013
2. Mark McGwire, 37, 1998
2. Reggie Jackson, 37, 1969
5. Luis Gonzalez, 35, 2001
5. Ken Griffey Jr., 35, 1998
7. Frank Howard, 34, 1969
Sammy Sosa (1998), Ken Griffey Jr. (1994), Matt Williams (1994), Mark McGwire (1987) and Roger Maris (1961) all got to 33, so Ohtani is now tied with that illustrious group for the eighth-most home runs ever before the All-Star break.
If it seems like we've been talking about his home runs a lot recently, well, it's true. He made history again:
In addition to all that, Ohtani has already set the record for most MLB home runs in a season from a Japanese-born player. He's also the first player ever named to an MLB All-Star team both as a hitter and as a pitcher. Ohtani will start the game at designated hitter for the AL and the expectation is the league will find a way for him to pitch in the game as well. He's also the No. 1 seed in the Home Run Derby on Monday.
Basically, expect to see and hear a lot about Ohtani in the next week or so. And rightfully so. He continues to defy any expectation anyone had for a player being both a frontline starting pitcher and middle-order elite bat.
