Between April 20 and May 2, Shohei Ohtani hit just one home run in 47 plate appearances and some Los Angeles Dodgers fans were alarmed. However, the Japanese player has managed to extinguish any fire with his impressive offensive power
After that ‘bad’ streak, the Japanese star turned on the afterburners and hit 15 balls beyond the limits in May, an almost unprecedented amount for the Los Angeles franchise in a calendar month
Background
To put it in perspective, in the centenary history of the organization, only two men had achieved such an accumulation and both did so in the last century. We are talking about Duke Snider and Pedro Guerrero, the only Dodgers players with 15 home runs in a month before Ohtani tore the cover off the ball in recent days
Snider set the record back in August 1953, 71 years ago, when the Dodgers were still playing in Brooklyn. Inserted into a lineup that had other stars such as Roy Campanella, Gil Hodges, Jackie Robinson and Pee Wee Reese, the outfielder excelled with an impressive performance that allowed him to be the team’s second home run hitter at the end of the season
Guerrero, for his part, equaled Snider’s record in June 1985. The Dominican began that season at a very slow pace, as he managed just four home runs in his first 198 plate appearances. However, in June he transformed into a slugger with 15 home runs in just 110 at-bats. Largely thanks to that performance, he achieved the most home runs (33) of his career in a single season
Ohtani’s brand from the inside
If there is one detail that distinguishes Shohei Ohtani, it is his ability to produce against any opponent. In May, for example, he returned to his MVP level and was a scourge, with a .309 batting average, .398 on-base percentage and 1.180 OPS, as well as driving in 27 runs and scoring 31 times
The Japanese designee hit home runs against 13 different pitchers, including Dominican Sandy Alcantara, winner of the 2022 Cy Young Award, and stars Tanner Bibee, Kodai Senga and Brandon Pfaadt, among the leaders of the rotations of Guardians, Mets and Diamondbacks, respectively
In addition, he punished the Yankees ace, Max Fried, one of the best pitchers in the American League this season. The Bronx Bombers left-hander was hit by a pair of bombs last Friday in the World Series rematch from last year
As in that title discussion, the Angelenos got the better of it with two wins in three games, thanks mainly to a great offensive display, as they scored 29 runs in the three games
Returning to Ohtani’s record, he had two multi-home run games.
In addition to the aforementioned one against Fried, he also took Jason Alexander of the Athletics deep twice. On that day, he also had six RBIs, the third-highest total of his MLB career
Ohtani became the 11th Dodgers player with a game of at least two home runs and six RBIs. The exclusive list includes several Hall of Famers such as Gil Hodges, Mike Piazza and Roy Campanella, as well as Mexican slugger Adrian Gonzalez
This is the second time in his career that Ohtani has hit 15 home runs in a month. He also did so in June 2023, his final season with the Los Angeles Angels. It is worth remembering that the MLB record for most home runs in a month is held by Sammy Sosa, who hit 20 in June 1998 during his epic home run battle against Mark McGwire.
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