Baseball genius Shohei Ohtani (29-LA Angels) is putting together another incredible season.
Ohtani hit a home run against the Kansas City Royals of the 2023 Major League Baseball (MLB) at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri, USA, on April 19.
Batting third with two outs in the fifth inning with his team trailing 1-2, Ohtani worked a full count against Zack Greinke and took a six-pitch curveball. It was a two-run arch over the right-center field fence.
It was Ohtani’s 24th home run of the season, his second in as many games after reaching base the previous day (Aug. 18).스포츠토토
It puts him at the front of the home run race this season.
He passed Aaron Judge (New York Yankees) for the American League (AL) home run lead with 19 home runs, and he also passed Pete Alonso (New York Mets) for the overall home run lead in the majors with 22 home runs.
He’s been on a tear lately. After drawing 15 arches through last month, he’s hit nine home runs this month. His bat has been watered down enough to launch eight cannons in his last 10 games.
As he continues to add home runs, he is on pace to break his own single-season home run record.
Ohtani’s record for most home runs in a season is 46, which he hit in 2021. That year, Ohtani was a unanimous AL Most Valuable Player (MVP).
With 24 homers in the team’s 74 games this year, Ohtani is on pace to arithmetically hit 52 homers.
While he’s been pounding home runs, he’s also been racking up RBIs. With two more RBIs on the day, Ohtani now has 58 RBIs on the season, good for first in the majors. He is one behind second-place Rafael Devers (Boston Red Sox – 57 RBI).
He also leads the league in OPS, which is slugging percentage plus on-base percentage, at 1.016.
[KANSAS CITY=AP/NEWS] Los Angeles Angels’ Shohei Ohtani reacts after hitting a two-run home run in the fifth inning to rally from a 1-2 deficit against the Kansas City Royals during a Major League Baseball (MLB) baseball game at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri, U.S., on April 18, 2023. Ohtani went 1-for-4 with a home run (his 24th of the season), two RBIs, one run scored and two triples, leading all of MLB in home runs, and the team won 5-2. June 19, 2023.
Ohtani’s trademark “two-hitter” continues.
Ohtani is 6-2 with a 3.29 ERA on the mound this year, the most wins on the team. He is also the only pitcher to have pitched in regulation for the Angels this year.
The tireless Ohtani is well on his way to his second career MVP.
Jersey, who was considered a strong contender for the award before the season began, has been sidelined for more than 10 days with a toe injury. In the meantime, Ohtani’s dominance has begun in earnest, and it’s looking like his MVP run may be starting early.