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This one, the first one, was a 107.3 mph, 45-degree moonshot -- the highest home run Ohtani has hit in his big league career. He had four hits in the game, including the two homers. He also flashed elite Statcast numbers in various areas, including a 16.4% barrel rate, a 92.9 mph exit velocity, a 113.9 mph max exit velocity, and a 50.4% hard-hit rate. While 15 of his 22 homers came in front of the home crowd, the situation he took the most advantage of was facing right-handed pitching. In 110 plate appearances against lefties, he posted just a .654 OPS with two homers, but in 257 trips to the plate against righties, Ohtani posted a 1.043 OPS with 20 homers. Eduardo Rodriguez pitched five shutout innings in his return to the Tigers, helping Detroit to a 4-0 win over the Los Angeles Angels.
But he pointed out, with a laugh, that his good friend -- and former Angels right-hander -- Garrett Richards once gave up a 490-foot homer to Joey Gallo at Angel Stadium in 2017. That was the case in the Angels’ 5-3 loss to the Mariners on Saturday at Angel Stadium. Facing the Mariners’ Logan Gilbert in the bottom of the third, Ohtani crushed a solo shot to right-center field that left his bat at a staggering 118 mph, per Statcast. Ohtani’s 16th homer of the season was the hardest-hit home run of his career, and the hardest-hit homer for the Angels since Statcast began tracking in 2015. His previous high for a homer -- the former record -- was 117.2 mph. It’s also the hardest anyone not named Giancarlo Stanton has hit out this year.
Ohtani's longest career HR a sight to behold
He was finally fully healthy and had a regular offseason under his belt heading into this year, and boy oh boy, did it show. The most concerning parts were the drastic rise in soft-hit rate and drop in hard-hit rate. Between 2018 and 2020, his soft-hit rate went from 10.2% to 8.6% to 19.4%. Meanwhile, his hard-hit rate went from 43.1% to 49.6% to 35.0%. Simply just seeing those numbers helps explain why he struggled as much as he did. Many historical player head shots courtesy of David Davis.
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Season: 22 Home Runs
The blast easily surpassed the previous longest home run hit by Ohtani, a 451-foot shot off Dylan Cease of the Chicago White Sox on April 4. Justin Upton and Jose Iglesias added to the Angels' lead with solo homers in the fourth, and Taylor Ward capped the scoring with a two-run homer in the eighth. Maddon also said he has no worries about the Home Run Derby adversely affecting Ohtani’s swing or causing an injury. “I’m glad I was able to start things on a good note with a home run,” Ohtani told Japanese media members. "The Gallo one looked farther, but I can't think of any in recent memory -- that one was absolutely hammered," Heaney said. "That's the farthest ball I think I've seen hit here," Maddon said.
Kyle Larson beat Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott on a restart with five laps to go and won the weather-delayed NASCAR Cup race at Watkins Glen International on Sunday. This will mark the first Home Run Derby for Ohtani, who currently ranks third in MLB with 19 home runs. Ohtani, who won the 2016 Nippon Professional Baseball Home Run Derby, is the first Japanese-born player to participate in MLB's version. Ohtani’s AL MVP campaign would’ve been eye-popping enough on its own, even though he just missed out on being the AL home run king despite leading the league at the All-Star break. But when you also include how much he struggled in 2020, it should make your jaw drop to the floor.
Left field options for the Yankees
"It was starting pitching and catching the ball. I know we want to talk about the homers, but Andrew was outstanding," Maddon said. "His fastball was as alive as you're going to see it. There was just so many nice things that occurred tonight. It's that formulaic game you're always looking for." As Maddon noted, Ohtani's homer sparked the offense with Max Stassi, Justin Upton, José Iglesias and Taylor Ward each going deep. Stassi smacked his third homer over his last four games with a two-run shot in the third, while Iglesias and Upton both went yard in the fourth. It was Iglesias’ fifth of the year and Upton’s 14th, including his fifth in 13 games as the leadoff hitter.
A 115.2 mph, 451-foot monster home run off a 97 mph fastball from Dylan Cease. Ohtani is the only player in Statcast history to throw a pitch 100 mph and hit a ball 115 mph in the same game, let alone the same inning. Based on fWAR, Ohtani’s offensive production has taken a slight step back. To take its place, his pitching production went up to another level.
American League West
Play never began as the groundskeepers kept the tarp on the infield from Saturday night. The game has been rescheduled for Sept. 15, a mutual off-day, at Progressive Field. It was the Guardians’ 12th postponement this season, 10 of them at home. Four of Chicago’s five postponements in 2022 have been against Cleveland. When he pummels baseballs into the upper tank, my mind is blown with the talent he possesses. Considering all the things he can do at a high level, it’s no shock that he’s the most talented player in baseball today, and maybe even within the past few generations.
During the bottom of the third inning against the Mariners, Logan Gilbert left one hanging over the zone. Ohtani made him pay and hit a 462-foot moonshot at 118 miles per hour off of the bat. That prodigious blast went 470 majestic feet and is the longest shot of Ohtani's still-young career. Take note of the broadcast discussing how they've never seen a ball that far up next to the batter's eye.
Through 71 games, Ohtani is batting .261 with 16 home runs, 47 RBIs and seven stolen bases. Meanwhile, he has made 12 starts with a 2.90 ERA, 90 strikeouts and only 16 walks allowed in 68.1 innings. It might be easy to forget how big of an unknown Ohtani was as he entered his first big league season. His legend preceded him as he jumped from Japan to the Majors, but his struggles in Spring Training raised questions about whether he'd be a star here. Ohtani started answering those questions immediately. Two days after winning his pitching debut on April 1, Ohtani belted his first home run as a hitter -- in his first home at-bat at Angel Stadium.
Outside of struggling overall at the plate in 2020, Ohtani has shown us he’s more than capable of handling big-league pitching while standing in the batter’s box. His 2021 breakout was just so wonderful to watch because of how much better it was. He doesn't have a walk-off home run in the big leagues … yet … but this one was just as big. The Angels held on to complete the comeback win, 6-5.
Ohtani jumped all over a 2-2 changeup from Bubic for the longest homer of his career, surpassing his previous record of 451 feet set on April 4 off White Sox right-hander Dylan Cease. It was also the fifth-longest homer by an Angels player since Statcast was introduced in 2015 behind four Mike Trout blasts. Trout has hit homers a projected 486 feet (Sept. 5, 2019), 477 feet , 473 feet and 471 feet .
Of course, that’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Ohanti’s value. The 26-year-old also owns a 2.76 ERA and has struck out 12.8 batters per nine innings across eight pitching starts this season. Patrick Cantlay is a winner again at the BMW Championship in another thriller. The only difference this year is he won’t be going to the Tour Championship as the No. 1 seed with a two-shot head start. Cantlay took advantage of a great break on the 17th hole when his tee shot bounced over a bunker and into the fairway. He made par on the last for a one-shot win over Scott Stallings.
What specifically jumps out at you when looking at his stat page was how his offense took off in the final two months of the regular season. Much of the play-by-play, game results, and transaction information both shown and used to create certain data sets was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted by RetroSheet. Sign up for the free Baseball Reference newsletter and get scores, news and notes in your inbox every day. The Mariners did, indeed, catch a break, as Ohtani barreled an 0-1 splitter to right at 104.2 mph. But he didn’t quite get enough of it, and the ball landed in Taylor Trammell’s glove for the final out and a second straight Angels loss. Sign up to receive our daily Morning Lineup to stay in the know about the latest trending topics around Major League Baseball.
Combining the pitching and offense, Ohtani boasts a 3.5 WAR right now -- the best in all of baseball. It'll be interesting to see how Ohtani fares in MVP voting if he keeps this up all season. Ohtani is now one back of the MLB lead for homers, currently shared by Ronald Acuna Jr. of the Atlanta Braves and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. of the Toronto Blue Jays. Maddon pointed out that Ohtani is helping grow the game of baseball and that the Home Run Derby could open the eyes of those who aren’t fans of the sport. While Ohtani’s rookie season was limited because of injury, he still flashed the kind of potential we were drooling about when he signed with the Angels.
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