On Monday, Los Angeles Angels star Shohei Ohtani became just the fifth hitter in the Statcast era to have an exit velocity of at least 119 mph, when he smoked a two-run double vs the Kansas City Royals. And Ohtani is doing more incredible things on Tuesday night in Kansas City.
Ohtani showed that, in addition to incredible abilities as a pitcher and a hitter, he can really run.
In the top of the first inning, Ohtani hit a groundball to shortstop that looked like a rather routine play, but he used his terrific speed to beat it out for an infield single. Statcast tracked Ohtani’s sprint speed at 29.5 feet/second.
And in the top of the fifth inning, Ohtani went back to just destroying the baseball. Ohtani cranked a 431-foot blast with an exit velocity of 109 mph.
Shohei Ohtani
– Leading MLB in barrels
– Has a 224 wRC+
– Top 10 in sprint speed
– Also can pitch a little— Andrew Simon (@AndrewSimonMLB) April 14, 2021
A ridiculous two-way talent unlike anything we’ve seen.
About Matt Clapp
Matt is an editor/writer at The Comeback and Awful Announcing.
He can be reached by email at mclapp@thecomeback.com.