Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers has surpassed Hideki Matsui in the record book for the most home runs hit by a player of Japanese descent in Major League Baseball.
In the third inning of Los Angeles’ 10-0 victory on Sunday at Dodger Stadium, Ohtani blasted a two-run home ball off Adrian Houser of the New York Mets far into the right-field bleachers.
In his more than six seasons in the major leagues, Ohtani’s home run was his 176th. This is one more than Matsui, the former slugger for the New York Yankees who spent the last ten years of his 20-year professional career in North America.
Will Ireton served as Ohtani’s interpreter. “Honestly, I was just relieved I was able to get it over with,” Ohtani stated.
Growing up in Japan during the height of Matsui’s MLB career, Ohtani looked up to and tried to emulate the baseball player. Ohtani acknowledged that he was behind Matsui in the record, but added that he was “not something I was cognizant of when I first started my career here, but as I got to know about it,”
If and when Ohtani makes it to the MLB postseason, he jokes that his present focus is more on breaking manager Dave Roberts’ record for the most home runs by a Japanese-born player wearing a Dodgers uniform. This was in response to a question about whether he also aspires to imitate Matsui’s renowned playoff calmness.
Roberts is ahead of Ohtani 7–5 in that match.
“Hideki Matsui was a great ballplayer, a great home run hitter, a world champion,” Roberts stated. “I know that Shohei admired him, so for him to eclipse that mark, it’s a big deal. I know whatever kind of mark is ahead of Shohei, he’s trying to take them all down.”
Ohtani’s game-winning shot, which was blasted 423 feet away with an exit velocity of 110 mph, gave the Dodgers a 2-0 lead. Ohtani, who had not hit a home run in his previous seven games, ended the Dodgers’ three-game losing streak with a 2-for-3 game that included a single, a walk, and two runs scored.
“We just tried a backdoor slider with that, and just wasn’t able to keep it out [of the strike zone],” Houser explained. “You leave a pitch down the middle to him, he’s going to put a good swing on it, just like he did.”
Ohtani hit his sixth home run of the season in his first 24 games with the Dodgers, who had last winter signed the two-time American League MVP to a $700 million contract. During his six seasons with the Los Angeles Angels, Ohtani hit 171 home runs.
My teammate Tyler Glasnow said, “It’s awesome.” “I’m sure he’ll have a lot more records while we’re playing here.”