Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani has quickly emerged as one of the best players in all of baseball. And on Sunday, he officially cemented himself as perhaps the greatest player to come out of Japan.
In the third inning of Sunday’s matchup against the New York Mets, Ohtani took Mets starting pitcher Adrian Houser deep for a two-run home run to give the Dodgers a 2-0 lead.
Shohei's record-breaking 176th homer was a sight to see. pic.twitter.com/hHJEk4i9IP
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) April 21, 2024
The home run was significant both in the game and for Ohtani individually. It was his 176th home run in his career, breaking the MLB record for the most home runs by a Japanese-born player, a record previously held by New York Yankees outfielder Hideki Matsui.
Matsui played in the MLB for ten seasons, best known for playing an integral role on the Yankees World Series winning team in 2009.
At the age of 29, Ohtani already has a claim to being one of the greatest players to ever come from his country. And that doesn’t even take into account his excellent ability on the mound as well.
Unsurprisingly, Ohtani has already gotten off to a solid start to his career as a Los Angeles Dodger, coming into Sunday’s game with the seventh-highest OPS in all of baseball.
The only question now that he has broken Matsui’s record is how many will Ohtani end up hitting when his career is all said and done? Obviously only time will tell, but it sure seems like he will be great for quite some time in Los Angeles.
About Reice Shipley
Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.