The Los Angeles Angels are fortunate enough to have superstar Mike Trout on their hands, but after signing Shohei Ohtani back in 2017, their two-way star has risen to the peak of the baseball world.
After debuting in 2018, Ohtani’s special ability wasn’t as appreciated as it should have been, mainly because his time on the mound was cut short after his first season due to Tommy John surgery on his right elbow. With a successful rehab and progression through his training program, he resumed his two-way role in 2021.
Ohtani was awarded the 2021 MVP by a unanimous vote after slugging 46 home runs, and 100 RBI while posting a .965 on-base plus slugging. Not to be forgotten were his numbers as a pitcher, and while on an innings limit, he notched a 3.18 ERA in 130.1 innings pitched and a WHIP that hovered around 1.00 over 23 starts.
He has become the modern-day Babe Ruth, except he can now be appreciated, and fans of sports hopefully appreciate how truly special what he does on a baseball field is. The data seems to back it up in terms of online traffic, because Ohtani has become the most web-searched baseball pitcher in the history of, well online history.
Baseball has had a number of great pitchers in the sport's history, but none is more searched than Shohei Ohtani ⚾️ pic.twitter.com/YdUYer6j5c
— GoogleTrends (@GoogleTrends) May 16, 2022
Ohtani currently has big shoes to fill from last year’s MVP showing and has rebounded quite nicely following an early-season slump. On the mound, he has a 2.78 ERA in 32.1 innings pitched with 46 punchouts, but at the plate, Ohtani is providing his power in bunches with a few multi-home run games already under his belt.
Ohtani records 100th career home run
The Angels faced the Oakland Athletics in a doubleheader on Saturday and although the first game didn’t go well with a 4-3 loss, they responded in a big way during the second game backed by Ohtani and Taylor Ward.
Ohtani only had one hit in five at-bats, but his lone hit was a two-run home run to extend the Angels’ lead to 8-1. More importantly, that long ball was the 100th of his career.
This also made Ohtani just the third native of Japan to collect 100 home runs in a career. He joined Hideki Matsui (175 HR) and Ichiro Suzuki (117) as the only players from Japan to reach the mark.
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