Shohei Ohtani had a night to remember in his first pitching start of the 2021. As he finished in a play in which he scored several races, there is no doubt that, especially at the beginning, the beginning brought all the electricity. which fans could have hoped for with the two-way star on the mound and on the set.
It was clear we were on a historic night, when the group of angels appeared, confirming what manager Joe Maddon was alluding to all week: Ohtani was second in his first pitching start of the year. He became the first player to start both on the pitcher and in 2nd place in order from Jack Dunleavy in 1903. The only other player who managed this in at least 1901? Watty Lee, in 1902.
1 – In this game, Ohtani threw 101 mph and hit a homer at 115.2 mph, which went 451 feet. Any of these numbers, individually, would be notable for a player in a game. But for the same player to do that in as game? Unheard. Indeed, it was only the 40th team game in the Statcast Era, where both a 115+ mph hit ball and a 100+ mph pitch were thrown. anything player from that team. According to research by MLB.com research and development manager Jason Bernard, Ohtani became the first player with a 110+ mph ball and a 100+ mph pitch in the same game watched by Statcast (since 2015). There were nine cases if we lowered the minimum exit speed to 105 mph instead: Noah Syndergaard (eight times) and Aroldis Chapman.
2 – Prior to Ohtani on Sunday, a single pitcher had thrown a pitch of over 100 km / h and even hit a 100 mph round in the same game: Syndergaard, May 27, 2015, May 11, 2016 (two rounds per 100 mph), and 16 August 2016.
3 – Ohtani threw nine pitches at 100+ mph, the second highest from an Angels starter in a pitch-tracking game (since 2008), following only 10 of Ervin Santana’s on June 25, 2008. Now he has thrown 16 pitches at 100+ mph in his career. Santana, in that 08 start, is the only other Angels player to reach 100 mph as a starter in that period.
4 – He exceeded the speed of 101.1 mph, equaling for the fastest tone in his career. This is also the fastest tone thrown by a headline this season. It’s a more impressive reading of pitch speed when you consider Ohtani’s 115.2 mph homer to be the strongest long ball so far in 2021. Sure, we’re only four days into the season, but we’ve already seen many needles and pitch there were a lot of runs from home.
5 – Given that Ohtani produced both the 101.1 mph pitch and the 115.2 mph homer in the same game, leading all contestants in each category, this was the 11th time the same pitcher had the hardest pitched pitch and the strongest hit hit the ball in the same game since Statcast began the pursuit 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 – he is also hit with the biggest hit by a pitcher chased by Statcast, surpassing a 112.5 mph race from Madison Bumgarner in 2017. also the most hit home run by an Angels player watched by Statcast.
7 – The implications of Statcast are clear, but it’s worth mentioning that there is a history here that goes back to ’15. When he joined the team, Ohtani became the first pitcher in the American League to hit Roric Harrison’s AL team on the last day of the 1972 season – and on the last day of the regular season without a designated junior player. He also became the first starting pitcher in at least 1901, with a home team that beat the first or second in a game.