Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports
Shohei Ohtani is again in Babe Ruth’s company.
Shohei Ohtani continues to set records in the most outstanding of ways.
In the Los Angeles Angels 6-4 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday, Ohtani was once again incredible both on the mound as a starting pitcher and at the plate as the DH. He struck out 13 batters through five innings as a pitcher, then went 3-5 with an RBI as a hitter.
With those 13 strikeouts on Wednesday, Ohtani joined some very elite company.
Ohtani is doing something that the MLB hasn’t seen in almost 100 years. If we extend it to the Modern Era (since 1900), only four players before Ohtani accomplished this feat: Ruth, Smoky Joe Wood, Red Ruffing and Walter Johnson. Ohtani hasn’t even played his full sixth season yet in the MLB and he’s accomplished this feat, compared to Ruth, who knocked his 500th career hit during his seventh season (according to Baseball Reference). Ohtani also only pitched in ten games in his rookie year in 2018.
A player that truly dominates both on the mound and as a hitter. As of May 4, 2023, Ohtani is first in the MLB in strikeouts, while also being in the top 20 in batting average so far. I mean, these are things that you weren’t even able to do in MLB The Show until recently. The concept of a player striking out over 500 players and also hitting 100 homers seems impossible.
If you want another stat that exemplifies Ohtani’s dominance and efficiency:
It took Ohtani just 388 2/3 innings as a starter to log his 500th career strikeout. According to @EliasSports, that’s the 2nd-fewest innings as a starter to reach 500 strikeouts, trailing only Corbin Burnes (365 IP).
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) May 4, 2023
Just an incredible player, who defies logic with every absurd stat that comes out about him.
Like these are his 11th, 12th and 13th strikeout from yesterday and none of these look very fun to try and hit. Baseball is extremely hard.
I hope Ohtani continues to do crazy things that make us tweet the Tungsten Arm O’Doyle tweet forever, because we may not see another player like him in a long time.
