Shohei Ohtani is a Japanese professional baseball player who has been making waves in the American League since his arrival in 2018. He is a two-way player, meaning he can both pitch and hit, and he has already broken records for both. In 2019, he became the first player in the modern era to hit 15 home runs and record 50 pitching strikeouts in the same season. This year, he has the potential to break his own American League home run record.
Ohtani has already shown that he has the power to hit home runs. In 2019, he hit 22 home runs in just 105 games, and his batting average was .286. He has also shown that he can hit for power in the 2020 season, with 5 home runs in just 16 games. This suggests that if he can stay healthy, he could easily break his own record this season.
In addition to his power, Ohtani is also a great contact hitter. He has a batting average of .286 and an on-base percentage of .361, which shows that he is able to make contact with the ball consistently. This is important for hitting home runs, as it means that he will be able to get on base more often and give himself more chances to hit home runs.
Ohtani also has great plate discipline. He has a strikeout rate of just 17.4%, which is well below the league average of 21.2%. This means that he is able to lay off pitches that he doesn’t think he can hit, which gives him more chances to hit home runs when he does get a pitch he likes.
Finally, Ohtani has the benefit of playing in the American League, which is known for its hitter-friendly parks. This means that he will have more chances to hit home runs than if he were playing in the National League, where pitcher-friendly parks are more common.
All of these factors suggest that Shohei Ohtani has a great chance of breaking his own American League home run record this season. He has already shown that he has the power and plate discipline to hit home runs, and playing in the American League gives him an extra advantage. If he can stay healthy and continue to produce at the plate, there is no doubt that he will be able to break his own record this year.
