Shohei Ohtani accomplished some remarkable feats of athleticism at the plate on his way to the first 50-50 season in MLB history. In general, not all home runs are created equal.
Some might be wall-scrapers and others can be dependent on the stadium a player is in or weather conditions for the given day.
All of those factors could also work against a player and prevent him from adding a homer to his season total. It takes a special kind of athlete to have a remarkable season in order to reach the 50-home run mark, which is why it has only happened 50 times in MLB history and reason for it being such a lauded single-season milestone.
Not all homers are created equal when comparing Ohtani to almost any other player in baseball history. What Ohtani is able to do with the bat in his hands leaves even his own teammates dumbfounded, especially Jack Flaherty who joined the Dodgers at the trade deadline.
During his appearance on “The Herd with Colin Cowherd,” Flaherty described the first time he was truly impressed by what Ohtani can do:
“There was a ball that he hit, it was against Colorado, against Kyle Freeland. He took a pitch that was up and in, left on left, a pitch up, and he hit it out to left-center. And he hit it about 10 rows deep into left-center, which you don’t as a left-handed hitter at all.
“We all went and watched where exactly the pitch was and saw it was two balls above the zone. He hit it out and we were like, ‘That’s not normal.’ They had watched him all year, been with him and everybody was still like, ‘Wow. That was incredible.’ And Sho, he’ll just be like, ‘Ah, you know.’ He’s a stud. Man, that dude, he’s incredible. And he’s as cool, calm and collected as they come. Him showing some emotion is different. He’s awesome.”
For context, Ohtani took that pitch from Kyle Freeland and hit it 423 feet at a 110 mph exit velocity. It would have been a home run at 28 of 30 MLB stadiums, with Chase Field and Progressive Field the two outliers.
Ohtani’s average home run distance measured out to 415 feet, which was sixth-best in baseball this past season. He also had the fourth-longest homer of the year at 476 feet and his 95.8 average exit velocity was second-best.
Shohei Ohtani only hitting on Opening Day
Ohtani underwent left shoulder surgery shortly after the Dodgers won the World Series, and that’s among the reasons he’s expected to only be a designated hitter come the Tokyo Series for Opening Day of the 2025 season.
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