Shohei Ohtani blasted his National League-leading 29th home run for the Los Angeles Dodgers, which also amounted to a career milestone for the superstar.
Ohtani’s home run marked the 200th of his career. It came in the fifth inning against the Detroit Tigers with Keider Montero on the mound.
In addition, it also set a Dodgers franchise record for most extra-base hits before the All-Star Break with 56, surpassing Duke Snider. Ohtani is also one homer short of tying Cody Bellinger for most home runs by a Dodgers player before the All-Star break.
Ohtani hit 171 home runs over his six seasons with the Los Angeles Angels before he joined the Dodgers as a free agent in the offseason. He smacked a career-high 46 in 2021, and he finished just short of that with 44 last year.
Earlier this season, Ohtani surpassed Hideki Matsui’s 175 career home runs for the top spot on the all-time MLB list by Japanese-born players. Ohtani was honored by the accomplishment due to Matsui being one of his idols.
Ichiro Suzuki is the only other Japanese-born player to have surpassed 100 home runs in the Major Leagues, as he hit 117 over his career.
No other Japanese players have reached 50 home runs in the Majors, with Kenji Johjima fourth on the all-time list with 48. Tadahito Iguchi hit 44 to round out the top-five.
Later in the year, he hit his eighth home run with the Dodgers, which passed manager Dave Roberts for the top spot on the Dodgers’ all-time home run list by a Japanese-born player.
Shohei Ohtani’s next milestones
With 200 homers, Ohtani is now in prime position to overtake another record this season. Shin-Soo Choo is currently the MLB career leader in home runs by an Asian-born player with 218.
Of course, Ohtani is now just 18 away from tying that mark, and 19 away from becoming the record holder. If takes over that record this season, it would have him with 48 long balls on the year, putting him in position to overtake another record.
The Dodgers franchise record for home runs in a season is 49 by Shawn Green, so Ohtani would be just one short of tying and two away from making history after he surpasses Choo.
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