Shohei Ohtani is all of the things. He’s a flame-throwing starting pitcher who is currently second in the American League in strikeouts. He’s a power-hitting slugger at the plate who is second in the AL in home runs. He also plays the game with a certain exuberance that makes him so much fun to watch and root for. Ohtani is one of the great talents the game has ever seen, and he’s the face of baseball right now even if he’s stuck on a middling team.
Shohei Ohtani put the most polite tag on a base runner for an out
Shohei Ohtani is one of a kind.
Ricky O'Donnell has covered basketball at all levels for more than a decade at SB Nation. He’s currently the Associate Director of Programming.
Ohtani got rocked on the mound in his start against the defending champion Houston Astros on Friday night, but he was still at the center of a cool moment. Ohtani got Houston’s Kyle Tucker to hit a soft grounder to him in the bottom of the sixth inning, and then received a low-five from Tucker as he tagged him out. Watch the play here:
Unfortunately for Ohtani, this little clip was the highlight of his night. He allowed nine hits and five earned runs in six innings on the mound as Houston ran away with the game. He also went 0-for-3 at the plate with two strikeouts and a walk.
Ohtani can’t always be superhuman on the baseball diamond, but he is consistently cool. The polite out from Friday night was reminiscent of this moment from last year.
There’s only one Shohei Ohtani. We are lucky to watch him play even on his bad nights.
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