Shohei Ohtani Extends AL Home Run Lead With Historic Blast
It seems like every week Shohei Ohtani does something that makes you say, “That’s the coolest thing I’ve ever seen him do.” And then he’ll go out and do something even more impressive a few days later.
On Monday, Ohtani hit two homers against the Rangers to pass Aaron Judge for the American League lead in that category. His first left the bat at 114.1 mph and landed 459 feet away just left of dead center. Few players are able to hit a ball that far. Fewer are able to do it on a low, inside pitch. Even fewer are able to do it when it’s not a straight pull shot.
That was one of the most incredible homers of Ohtani’s career. And he somehow surpassed it on Wednesday night.
In the ninth inning of Los Angeles’s loss to Texas, Ohtani muscled a 453-foot homer to the opposite field.
That just shouldn’t happen. You can count the number of players in the majors with opposite-field power like that on one hand.
Ohtani’s homer—his league-leading 21st of the season—left the bat at 116.1 mph. That’s the hardest-hit ball to the opposite field by a left-handed hitter since Statcast began tracking exit velocity in 2015. The record was previously held by Ohtani, who had a 114.9 mph lineout in ’19.
It wasn’t just the speed of Ohtani’s hit that was elite. The homer was also the third-longest opposite-field shot of the Statcast era, trailing only a 454-footer by Joey Gallo in 2017 and a 457-footer by Matt Kemp in ’20 at Coors Field.
