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The blast easily surpassed the previous longest home run hit by Ohtani, a 451-foot shot off Dylan Cease of the Chicago White Sox on April 4. Justin Upton and Jose Iglesias added to the Angels' lead with solo homers in the fourth, and Taylor Ward capped the scoring with a two-run homer in the eighth. Maddon also said he has no worries about the Home Run Derby adversely affecting Ohtani’s swing or causing an injury. “I’m glad I was able to start things on a good note with a home run,” Ohtani told Japanese media members. "The Gallo one looked farther, but I can't think of any in recent memory -- that one was absolutely hammered," Heaney said. "That's the farthest ball I think I've seen hit here," Maddon said.
Play never began as the groundskeepers kept the tarp on the infield from Saturday night. The game has been rescheduled for Sept. 15, a mutual off-day, at Progressive Field. It was the Guardians’ 12th postponement this season, 10 of them at home. Four of Chicago’s five postponements in 2022 have been against Cleveland. When he pummels baseballs into the upper tank, my mind is blown with the talent he possesses. Considering all the things he can do at a high level, it’s no shock that he’s the most talented player in baseball today, and maybe even within the past few generations.
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Ohtani reached base again in his second at-bat, lacing a third-inning double to right-center field before scoring on a two-run homer by catcher Max Stassi that made it 4-0. Ohtani struck out and drew a walk in his other plate appearances. The AL Central-leading Cleveland Guardians and Chicago White Sox had their game postponed due to unplayable field conditions caused by early morning rain. No precipitation fell for more than three hours before the game was called following a delay of 2 hours, 56 minutes.
Outside of struggling overall at the plate in 2020, Ohtani has shown us he’s more than capable of handling big-league pitching while standing in the batter’s box. His 2021 breakout was just so wonderful to watch because of how much better it was. He doesn't have a walk-off home run in the big leagues … yet … but this one was just as big. The Angels held on to complete the comeback win, 6-5.
Ohtani's longest career HR a sight to behold
We have to get Ohtani's most prolific homer on the list. The best part of this home run has to be Michael A. Taylor, the center fielder, just standing still and staring up at the ball while it lands in the back of the bleachers. Of nearly 39,000 home runs hit in MLB since 2015, only 130 have gone 470 feet or farther.
The Tigers’ Riley Greene had a 448-foot homer on the first pitch he saw from Angels starter Shohei Ohtani. It was the longest home run Ohtani has allowed in the majors. Ohtani left the game with a stomach virus after four innings. Rodriguez hadn’t pitched in the majors since suffering a rib-cage injury on May 18. According to MLB's Statcast tracking system, the two-run homer at Angel Stadium had the longest projected distance of the 26-year-old Japanese's MLB career. Ohtani is both pitching and hitting for the Angels this year, his fourth season in the major leagues.
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Masters champion Scottie Scheffler tied for third and moves back to the No. 1 seed. A few close plays at the plate over the past couple weeks have infuriated MLB catchers. It’s a difficult play for catchers, who aren’t allowed to block the plate without possession of the ball.
But he pointed out, with a laugh, that his good friend -- and former Angels right-hander -- Garrett Richards once gave up a 490-foot homer to Joey Gallo at Angel Stadium in 2017. That was the case in the Angels’ 5-3 loss to the Mariners on Saturday at Angel Stadium. Facing the Mariners’ Logan Gilbert in the bottom of the third, Ohtani crushed a solo shot to right-center field that left his bat at a staggering 118 mph, per Statcast. Ohtani’s 16th homer of the season was the hardest-hit home run of his career, and the hardest-hit homer for the Angels since Statcast began tracking in 2015. His previous high for a homer -- the former record -- was 117.2 mph. It’s also the hardest anyone not named Giancarlo Stanton has hit out this year.
"The Gallo one looked farther, but I can't think of any in recent memory -- that one was absolutely hammered," Heaney said (via mlb.com). "I mean, what more can you say? The guy is just so impressive. It's amazing." "That's the farthest ball I think I've seen hit here," Maddon said (via mlb.com).
Royals starter Kris Bubic (1-1) surrendered four of the Angels' five homers and lasted just four innings. He also has some experience at Coors Field, going 1-for-2 as a pinch-hitter in an Interleague series in May of 2018. Ohtani put on quite a show during batting practice as well, memorably hitting a ball into the third deck in right-center field. He also hit some moonshots within those 46 dingers. Six different homers traveled more than 450 feet , and a whopping 25 owned an exit velocity greater than 110 mph.
You need top-of-the-scale power to hit a home run that far in a game. Ohtani crushed a 470-foot homer off Kris Bubic in the first inning of the Los Angeles Angels’ 8-1 win over the Kansas City Royals. Statcast determined it had an exit velocity of 111.7 mph. Heaney (4-3) pitched 6-2/3 innings and allowed one run on six hits and two walks.
The Angels have hit over 1,000 home runs since Statcast started tracking in 2015 … and Ohtani hit the hardest one of them all. Ohtani ripped this 117.2 mph home run into the right-field bleachers at Yankee Stadium last summer, setting a new Angels record for the team's hardest homer. It's harder than any home run Mike Trout or Albert Pujols ever hit for the Angels. Actually, the record he broke was his own -- Ohtani first passed Trout's previous record of 116.8 mph with a 117.0 mph homer on May 25. The feats at the plate are part of an encouraging recent trend for Ohtani after a somewhat slow start to the season that saw him with an OPS below .700 as late as May 8. Over his last 12 games, Ohtani’s hit .333 (15-for-45) with four homers, two doubles and a triple, raising his OPS from .778 to .832.
Ohtani jumped all over a 2-2 changeup from Bubic for the longest homer of his career, surpassing his previous record of 451 feet set on April 4 off White Sox right-hander Dylan Cease. It was also the fifth-longest homer by an Angels player since Statcast was introduced in 2015 behind four Mike Trout blasts. Trout has hit homers a projected 486 feet (Sept. 5, 2019), 477 feet , 473 feet and 471 feet .
He was finally fully healthy and had a regular offseason under his belt heading into this year, and boy oh boy, did it show. The most concerning parts were the drastic rise in soft-hit rate and drop in hard-hit rate. Between 2018 and 2020, his soft-hit rate went from 10.2% to 8.6% to 19.4%. Meanwhile, his hard-hit rate went from 43.1% to 49.6% to 35.0%. Simply just seeing those numbers helps explain why he struggled as much as he did. Many historical player head shots courtesy of David Davis.
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