Two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani is on the board with his first home run of the 2022 MLB season, and he hit it on the first pitch of Friday night’s Los Angeles Angels game against the Texas Rangers at Globe Life Field.
On the first pitch, Ohtani cranked a 96 mph fastball from Matt Bush and crushed it 406 feet, with an exit velocity of 108 mph. It was a skyscraping blast with a launch angle of 41 degrees.
First pitch of the game ➡️ first HR of the season for Shohei Ohtani! #GoHalos pic.twitter.com/lIFyT2BPFy
— Los Angeles Angels (@Angels) April 16, 2022
#MLBFieldVision — Shohei Ohtani hits a 108 mph, 41° moonshot for his first home run of the season pic.twitter.com/KI34hg9yOi
— David Adler (@_dadler) April 16, 2022
There are likely many, many more such swings coming from Ohtani this season.
Ohtani hit 46 homers in his 2021 AL MVP-winning season, to go with a .592 slugging percentage. And he had a 3.18 ERA in 130 1/3 innings on the mound! He’s a truly unbelievable athlete.
Update: Ohtani crushed a second home run in the fifth inning.
The second home run of the night for Shohei Ohtani! pic.twitter.com/dGnY66G2Ga
— Los Angeles Angels (@Angels) April 16, 2022
[Photo Credit: Bally Sports West]
About Matt Clapp
Matt is an editor/writer at The Comeback and Awful Announcing.
He can be reached by email at mclapp@thecomeback.com.