Shohei Ohtani joined one other elite membership when he broke Ichiro Suzuki’s single-season stolen base file for a Japanese-born participant towards the Colorado Rockies on Friday night time.
Together with his 57th stolen base, Ohtani has grow to be one of many best base runners in baseball historical past which solely provides to the legend of the two-way participant.
The journey to holding this file turned life like when he sat tied with supervisor Dave Roberts.
It got here after Ohtani singled off Miami Marlins left-hander Ryan Weathers in his first at-bat on Wednesday, Sept.18. He then stole second base on the very first pitch to Mookie Betts, sliding in safely.
Together with his forty ninth stolen base, Ohtani tied with Roberts for the second-most stolen bases in a single season by a Japanese-born participant in Main League historical past.
Ohtani isn’t pitching this season after present process his second Tommy John surgical procedure over the offseason which is why this accomplishment is so spectacular. As soon as he begins pitching once more, he may not have the liberty to run as a lot.
As Roberts advised The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya, “It’s an enormous, bodily toll. I don’t see how he’d be capable to do that if he have been pitching. I don’t suppose he would.”
Contained in the Dodgers franchise, Ohtani has a methods to go if he desires to carry the franchise file for stolen bases in a single season. That’s held by Maury Wills who stole 104 bases in 1962. He swiped 94 three years later in the course of the 1965 season.
Hitting dwelling runs and swiping baggage is one other class in itself. Give it some thought, hitting dwelling runs takes away alternatives to steal bases.
In 2007, Juan Pierre stole 64 bases for the Dodgers with out hitting a single dwelling run. Fourteen different Dodgers gamers have stolen 50 bases in a season, with Davey Lopes holding the file for probably the most homers amongst them at 10 in 1974.
“Hitting 50 dwelling runs, that’s 50 much less instances you’ve acquired to do something on the bases,” Pierre mentioned. “He’s simply trotting, so he’s good.”
Pierre laughed, “You virtually get jealous, like how might you be that quick after which hit the ball 500 ft?” mentioned Pierre, who hit 18 dwelling runs in 14 seasons. “It’s simply not honest, the issues he’s doing. He’s actually altering the sport.”
Obligatory Credit score: Sam Navarro-Imagn Photos
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