Shohei Ohtani Tops Babe Ruth in Strikeouts for Player With Over 100 HRs

The Angels star continues to amaze.

In just his sixth season in the major leagues, Angels two-way star Shohei Ohtani continues to amaze, quickly cementing himself among the greats to ever play the game.

In a lot of ways, it seems silly to anoint him as one of the best players ever this early in his career, but what he’s accomplished both at the plate and on the mound has been eye-opening.

Tuesday night was another reminder of just how special Ohtani is as a player. In the Angels’ 3–1 loss to the Astros, Ohtani pitched seven innings, giving up three earned runs on six hits while striking out seven. 

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With the seven strikeouts, Ohtani reached 502 career strikeouts on the mound, surpassing the career total of Babe Ruth. Ohtani now has the most pitching strikeouts among players to hit at least 100 career home runs at the plate.

#Angels Shohei Ohtani has reached 502 career pitching strikeouts, which surpasses Babe Ruth's career total (per @EliasSports).

Ohtani now has the most pitching strikeouts among players to hit at least 100 career home runs.

— Angels PR (@LAAngelsPR) May 10, 2023

The loss on Tuesday dropped the Angels to 20–17 on the season. Ohtani has been a key reason for the team’s winning start to the year. He’s compiled a 2.74 ERA with 66 strikeouts on the mound, while hitting .294 at the plate with seven home runs and 22 RBI.

The issue for the Angels over Ohtani (and Mike Trout’s) time in Los Angeles has been their inability to reach playoff baseball with two generational stars on the roster. The results have been underwhelming overall, but the hope for Angels fans is that the team can find a way to make the playoffs this season powered by their two star players.