Since coming to Major League Baseball prior to the 2018 season, Shohei Ohtani has been a history-making machine for the Los Angeles Dodgers and Los Angeles Angels.
That continued on Tuesday, Sept. 17, when Ohtani slugged his 48th home run of the season against the Miami Marlins and pitcher Darren McCaughan. That home run gave Ohtani 219 for his career, making him MLB’s all-time home run leader among Asian-born players.
Shin Soo-Choo, who was born in Busan, South Korea, held the record with 218 prior to Ohtani taking it over.
Over his 16-year career, Choo hit 114 for the Texas Rangers, 83 for the then-Cleveland Indians, 21 for the Cincinnati Reds and none for the Seattle Mariners.
For Ohtani, it took him just seven seasons to set the record, blasting 171 over six seasons with the Angels before hitting 48 thus far with the Dodgers.
Ohtani, a native of Ōshū, Iwate, Japan, surpassed Hideki Matsui’s 175 career home runs earlier this year 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, Ohtani 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 next milestones
Ohtani is now one home run away from tying Shawn Green’s single-season Dodgers franchise record of 49 and two away from taking the record. If Ohtani reaches that, he would be in prime position to become the first 50-50 player in MLB history.
Ohtani has also stolen 48 bases to go along with his 48 home runs. He previously became the first player to reach at least 43 home runs and 43 stolen bases in a single season, and every mark reached since then extends on to his record.
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