Shohei Ohtani had an evening to remember in his first pitching start to the 2021 season. Although it ended in a fluke game where several runs were hit, there is no doubt that especially the start brought all the electricity that fans could hope for with the two-way star on the hill and on the board.
It was clear we were going to be performing for a historic night when the Angels series came out, confirming what manager Joe Maddon alluded to all week: Ohtani batted second during his first pitching start of the year. He became the first player to start on both the pitcher and second place in the order since Jack Dunleavy in 1903. The only other player who could accomplish this since at least 1901? Watty Lee, in 1902.
1 – In this game, Ohtani throws 101 mph and hits a homer at 115.2 mph going 451 feet. Any of these numbers, separately, will be noticeable to a player in a game. But that same player it in the same games? Unheard of. It was indeed only the 40th team match in the Statcast Era, where a ball of more than 115 km / h and a pitch of more than 100 km / h were thrown any player in that team. According to research by Jason Bernard, MLB.com’s research and development manager, Ohtani became the first player to have a ball of more than 110 km / h and a pitch of more than 100 km / h in the same game as Statcast followed (since 2015). There were nine cases when we reduced the exit speed to 105 km / h instead: Noah Syndergaard (eight times) and Aroldis Chapman.
2 – Before Ohtani on Sunday, only one pitcher threw a 100+ mph pitch and even hit a 100+ mph run in the same game: Syndergaard, on 27 May 2015, 11 May 2016 (two 100 mph home runs), and 16 August 2016
3 – Ohtani threw nine pitches at more than 100km / h, the second most of an English team starter in an off-road match (since 2008), and he only beat Ervin Santana’s ten on 25 June 2008 followed. He has now thrown 16 stands at 100+. mph in his career. Santana, in early ’08, is the only other English pitcher to reach 100km / h as an appetizer in that team.
4 – He achieved 101.1 km / h and achieved the fastest place in his career. It is also the fastest place an appetizer has achieved this season. This is an even more impressive reading of the pitch speed when you consider that Ohtani’s 115.2 mph homer has been the hardest hit long ball so far in 2021. Of course we are only four days into the season yet, but we have already seen a lot of bait pitch and there were a lot of home runs.
5 – As Ohtani produced both the 101.1 mph and 115.2 mph homer in the same match, leading all contestants in each category, it was the 11th place where the same pitcher threw the hardest and hit the hardest ball in the same game since Statcast started tracking in 2015, according to Bernard. The last pitcher to do so was Syndergaard on May 29, 2019, with a double of 108.4 mph and a pitch of 100.4 mph.
6 – Ohtani’s homer was not only the fastest of the year; it is also the hardest hit ball by a pitcher detected by Statcast, surpassing a 112.5km / h in 2017 from Madison Bumgarner. It was also hit hardest by an English player tracked down by Statcast.
7 – The implications of Statcast are clear, but it is noteworthy that here is a history going back to ’15. When he homered, on the last day of the 1972 season, Ohtani became the first American work crawler to homer against an AL team since Roric Harrison – and the last day of the regular season without a designated hitter in the junior track. He also became the first starting pitcher since at least 1901 with a home game batting first or second in a game.