Los Angeles Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani Joins Exclusive Company With Latest Explosive Night
Shohei Ohtani stayed red-hot through his first few weeks with the Los Angeles Dodgers, notching three doubles against the Washington Nationals on Wednesday.
Amid the Los Angeles Dodgers' runaway win over Washington Nationals on Wednesday, superstar designated hitter Shohei Ohtani continued to carve out multiple spots in the history books.
Ohtani got his team's first hit of the evening, roping a double into the right-center gap in the top of the first. It was no ordinary hit, however, considering he cranked it a whopping 115.6 miles per hour.
As noted by MLB.com's Sarah Langs, Ohtani now has the three hardest-hit base hits by any Dodgers player in the Statcast era, which began in 2015. Wednesday's double ranks third, while his home run Tuesday night ranks first.
That was the first of Ohtani's first of three doubles on the night, with his others coming in the eighth and ninth innings. He now leads the entire league with 14 doubles, with no other player having more than nine.
Across his first 26 games with the Dodgers, Ohtani now has 21 extra-base hits. Per Langs, that is tied for the fifth-most in a player's first 26 games with a new team in MLB history and the second-most since 1937.
The New York Yankees' Joe DiMaggio and Chicago Cubs' Hack Wilson own the record with 23, doing so in 1936 and 1926, respectively. Toronto Blue Jays shortstop Bo Bichette had 22 as a rookie back in 2019, while Mandy Brooks also had 22 with the Cubs in 1925.
Ohtani and former Colorado Rockies All-Star Ellis Burks are tied for fifth with 21.
Ohtani is currently batting .371 with a 1.129 OPS, both of which lead all of baseball. With six home runs, 16 RBI, five stolen bases and a 1.7 WAR, the slugger is somehow off to one of the hottest starts of his career.
In his six seasons with the Los Angeles Angels, Ohtani was a two-time MVP, two-time Silver Slugger and three-time All-Star. It took a 10-year, $700 million contract for the Dodgers to lure Ohtani across town, and even though his offseason elbow surgery is preventing him from pitching, he already appears to be living up to the historic price tag.
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