Shohei Ohtani has done well so far in his first few Major League outings. He’s not a Hall of Famer from Day One but no one should expect him to be. That’s unfair. But he had a quality pitching start and has been respectable at the plate.
Shohei Ohtani hits his first Major League home run in first Angel Stadium at bat
Josh Tomlin gave him a pitch he could rock, and he rocked it.
Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images
Now he has a home run on his stat line too, his first in MLB and an authoritative homer at that.
With the Angels already up 3-2 on Cleveland, Ohtani jacked a three-run shot to make the lead 6-2. Granted, it was a 74 mile an hour pitch from Josh Tomlin that was more than ready to get jacked up but it was still a great moment no matter how seemingly easy or hard it was to accomplish.
The celebration is even better. Of course his teammates gave him the silent treatment, as is tradition, and it almost seemed like he was worried they weren’t going to celebrate with him at all. But after he tugged on some shoulders they “gave in” and celebrated him fully. The look on his face was so purely happy that it’s hard not to root for him to do it again and again. Even if you’re still smarting from not getting him on your team (/cough/ Mariners fans /cough/).
As of this moment, Ohtani has more home runs than Aaron Judge, J.D. Martinez, and Eric Hosmer. That probably won’t last, but you never know! He’s proving that he can handle Major League pitchers and Major League batters more than capably. Just in case you were still worried.
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