Shohei Ohtani had a night to remember in his first start of the 2021 season. Although he ended up in a casual play where they scored several runs, there is no doubt that, especially in the beginning, the start led all the electricity fans could have expected with the two-way star on the mound and plate.
It was clear we were on a historic afternoon when the Angels lineup came out, confirming what manager Joe Maddon had alluded to all week: Ohtani was batting second during his first pitching start of the year. He became the first player to start in both the pitcher and the No. 2 spot in the order since Jack Dunleavy in 1903. The only other player to achieve this since 1901 at least? Watty Lee, in 1902.
1 – In this game, Ohtani threw 101 mph and hit a homer at 115.2 mph that made 451 feet. Any of these numbers, individually, would be remarkable for a player in a game. But let the same player do it in the same game? Unpublished. In fact, it was only the 40th team game of the Statcast era where a batting ball of over 115 mph and a throw of over 100km / h were thrown from cap player of this team. According to an investigation by MLB.com’s head of research and development, Jason Bernard, Ohtani became the first player with a batted ball of more than 110 km / h and a throw of more than 100 km / h in the same game followed by Statcast (since 2015). There were nine cases if we lowered the minimum exit speed to 105 mph: Noah Syndergaard (eight times) and Aroldis Chapman.
2 – Prior to Ohtani on Sunday, only one pitcher had pitched more than 100 km / h and had even reached a race of more than 100 km / h in the same game: Syndergaard, 27 May 2015, on May 11, 2016 (two 100 mph home races), and on August 16, 2016.
3 – Ohtani launched nine launches at over 100 km / h, the second most by an Angels starter in a game from the launch tracking era (since 2008), following only Ervin Santana’s 10th on June 25, 2008. He has now released 16 laps at over 100 mph in his career. Santana, in that 08 start, is the only Angels pitcher to reach 100 mph as a starter in that period.
4 – He surpassed 101.1 mph, tying at the fastest launch of his career. This is also the fastest pitch thrown by a starter this season. It’s an even more impressive pitch speed reading considering that Otani’s homer, at 115.2 mph, is the longest hit ball until 2021. Of course, we’re only four days away from the season, but we have already seen many there have been a lot of home runs.
5 – Given that Ohtani produced both the 101.1 mph throw and the 115.2 mph throw in the same game, leading all contest participants in each category, this was the 11th case in which the same pitcher he had the hardest throw and the hardest ball of the ball. the same game since Statcast began tracking in 2015, according to Bernard. The last pitcher to do so was Syndergaard on May 29, 2019, with a 108.4 mph double and a 100.4 mph pitch.
6 – Ohtani’s homer was not only the fastest of the year, but he’s also the most beaten ball by a pitcher followed by Statcast, who surpassed Madison Bumgarner’s 112.5 mph partial in 2017. the house most affected by an Angels player followed by Statcast.
7 – Statcast’s implications are clear, but it’s worth noting that there’s history dating back to the 15th. When he scored homers, Ohtani became the first American League pitcher to throw a man against a U.S. team. ‘AL from Roric Harrison on the last day of the 1972 season and the last day of the regular season without a designated hitter on the junior circuit. He also became the first starting pitcher since at least 1901, with one man beating the first or second in a match.