Ohtani's career high will be completely replaced, with one more home run, the most personal and 亞 ties

Sep 10, 2024

Ohtani's career high will be completely replaced, with one more home run, the most personal and 亞 ties
LA Dodgers Shohei Ohtani hits a solo home run in the fifth inning against the Cleveland Guardians at Dodger Stadium on the 9th (Korea time). AP Yonhap News
Ohtani's career high will be completely replaced, with one more home run, the most personal and 亞 ties
Otani is stealing third base in the fifth inning against the Philadelphia Phillies on August 6 (Korea time). AP Yonhap News


LA Dodgers Shohei Ohtani, who is counting down to achieve the first 50 home runs and 50 steals in Major League history, is breaking personal records.

Ohtani had surgery on his left elbow in September last year and is only focusing on hitting this season. It was expected even before the season that he would shoot a career high in all areas of the batting, but this explosive appearance left all major league fans enthusiastic.

Ohtani hit his 46th home run of the season against the Cleveland Guardians at Dodger Stadium on the 9th (Korea time) and reached 46-46 with 46 steals. If he adds four homers and four steals in the future, he will open a 50-50 club (開設).

Ohtani scored his 46th home run in the bottom of the fifth inning with a 1-0 lead.

Against Cleveland right-hander Tanner Bybee, he pulled a changeup in the middle of 83.6 miles on the second pitch in a one-ball and went wide over the left fence. According to Statcast, the launch angle was 34 degrees, the batting speed was 116.7 miles (187.8 kilometers), and the distance was 450 feet (137.2 meters).

Even the umpires couldn't easily decide whether they had a home run or not due to the high ball passing over the foul pole, but they admitted the home run through a review. In other words, the ball flew that far. This season, Ohtani's home runs have flown more than 450 feet. Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees (51), who ranks first in homers in both leagues, also has only six such homers.

Ohtani's career high will be completely replaced, with one more home run, the most personal and 亞 ties
Ohtani hitting his 46th home run of the season from Cleveland starter Tanner Vivey on the 9th (Korea Standard Time). AP Yonhap News
According to Statcast, Ohtani's average home run distance is 414 feet, ranking fourth in 64 batters who have hit more than 20. The average batting speed is 95.6 miles, second only to Judge, and the average bat speed is 76.3 miles, ranking eighth among 206 people surveyed by Statcast. In other words, he is swinging his bat to his heart's content while performing pitching rehabilitation at the same time during the season.

Ohtani, who scored two hits, one RBI and one run from four times at bat, marked a batting average of 0.291 (162 hits from 557 times at bat), 46 homers, 101 RBIs, 113 runs, 46 steals, 0.374 on-base percentage, 0.618 slugging percentage, 0.992 OPS, 83 long hits, and 344 hits. He is running first in NL home runs, RBIs, runs scored, slugging percentage, OPS, slugging, and Ruta.

In addition, hits and RBIs topped 2022 (160 hits) and 2021 (100 RBIs) respectively, hitting career highs. Home runs are tied with 2021, and runs and Ruta have already exceeded personal records.

Now, if he adds one home run, he will reach career high, and tie Choo Shin-soo's most home runs (218) from Asia. He hit 46 home runs when he was with the Los Angeles Angels in 2021, when he finished third in homers in both leagues, behind Toronto Blue Jays Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Kansas City Royals Salvador Perez (both 48 home runs).

Ohtani's career high will be completely replaced, with one more home run, the most personal and 亞 ties
Otani reaches a career high of 47 home runs if he adds one home run. AP Yonhap News
This season, the NL home run king has virtually been confirmed, and attention is also being paid to whether he can catch up with Judge, who is No. 1 in the AL. Judge also failed to add a home run against the Chicago Cubs on the day, keeping his cannon silent for 12 consecutive games.

There is no player in the NL who can keep Ohtani in check as an MVP candidate. New York Mets Francisco Lindor is ahead of Ohtani in the fWAR, but it is difficult to guarantee whether 30 reporters from the BBWAA (National Baseball Journalists Association) who exercise MVP voting rights will be able to vote. If he achieves 50-50, Ohtani is certain to win his third MVP in his career with a unanimous opinion.

There is a controversy over the MVP qualification of the designated hitter, but it seems to be a small number of opinions. Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman, the 2020 NL MVP, recently wrote in the Orange County Register that `I always thought designated hitters should not be MVP. But seeing Ohtani do it this year, it's hard to keep that in mindIt is difficult to regard a designated hitter as MVP as a baseball player. But look at Ohtani's performance. I'm trying to do something that no one has ever done before."

Ohtani's bat and foot at the end of the season are sucking up all the issues.





jhno@sportschosun.com