Los Angeles Angels Star Shohei Ohtani Sits Alongside San Francisco Giants Legend Willie Mays in Baseball History
Los Angeles Angels star Shohei Ohtani is the talk of baseball right now. Heck, he's so good that even Fox Sports Radio host Colin Cowherd devoted some of his show on Monday to Ohtani -- and Cowherd famously doesn't talk about regular season baseball.
It truly has been the year of Ohtani. He led team Japan to the World Baseball Classic title this spring and now is putting up numbers rarely ever seen before in baseball history. He's on his way to his second MVP award at this rate.
Per @OptaSTATS on Twitter:
Shohei Ohtani is the second MLB player to have 30+ home runs and 5+ triples prior to the All-Star break. The other player to do so was Willie Mays in 1954.
Willie Mays is one of the best players in baseball history and is in the Hall of Fame so any time you can be mentioned alongside him, you're having a special run. There's still nearly a week to go before the break, so Ohtani has a chance to add to his absurd totals.
Ohtani is hitting .303 this season with 31 homers, 68 RBI and 11 stolen bases. He leads the majors in homers and is tied for second in RBI.
Of course, with Ohtani, you can't only talk about hitting. He's also 7-3 on the mound with a 3.02 ERA which ranks 11th in baseball. His 127 strikeouts are third in the sport behind only Spencer Strider (Braves) and Kevin Gausman (Blue Jays).
The Halos lost to the San Diego Padres on Monday but will be back in action on Tuesday for a July 4 special. First pitch is 6:40 p.m. ET.
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