It didn’t take long for Shohei Ohtani to put his colossal abilities in plain view.
Pulling twofold obligations against the White Sox on Sunday night, Ohtani twice contacted 100 mph with his fastball in a scoreless top of the main inning—finishing out at 100.6—without permitting a hit.
In the base portion of the inning, Ohtani turned on the primary pitch he saw and squashed it over the divider in right field, giving himself a 1-0 lead.
The impact had a leave speed of 115.2 mph, the hardest for the Angels since Statcast was presented in 2015, and went 451 feet. His 100.6 mph fastball was the hardest tossed by a beginning pitcher this season, while the grand slam was the hardest-hit by any major part in 2021, per ESPN Stats and Info.
Ohtani’s first-inning execution had a wide range of chronicled references. Here are a couple of the champions:
He is the main American League pitcher to homer in the principal inning of a game since Aug. 26, 1968.
He’s the main AL beginning pitcher to homer against another AL group since Roric Harrison in 1972, the last year without the assigned hitter.
Ohtani is the primary pitcher to bat second in the batting request since 1903.
He’s the main Angels pitcher with a hit against an AL rival since Nolan Ryan on Sept. 30, 1972.
Ohtani had never hit in a game or after one of his beginnings on a hill before Sunday night, not to mention done both in a similar game. As a new kid on the block in 2018, he went 4-2 with a 3.31 ERA and 63 strikeouts in 10 beginnings and hit .285 with 22 home runs in 367 plate appearances.
Manager Joe Maddon has promised to eliminate limitations from Ohtani this season. With early outcomes like this present, it’s not difficult to perceive any reason why.
