ANAHEIM — Breaking records is something Shohei Ohtani does with some regularity. Sometimes, those records happen to be his own.
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 fourth inning, Ohtani crushed a solo shot to right-center field that left his bat at a staggering 118 mph, per Statcast. It was the hardest-hit home run of Ohtani’s 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.
It’s not the hardest Ohtani has ever hit a ball, though. On April 10 at home vs. the Astros, he hit a double with an exit velocity of 119.1 mph. He also hit a double at 119 mph on April 12, 2021, in Kansas City.
Ohtani’s homer traveled a projected 462 feet, which is the fourth-longest of his career. His personal best is 470 feet, done against the Royals on June 8, 2021. It’s the 15th-longest projected distance for a home run in the Majors this year, and the second-longest by an Angel, behind Mike Trout (472 feet).
It was already a big week for Ohtani, who on Tuesday vs. the Royals picked up a career-high eight RBIs, the most in an MLB game from a Japanese-born player. For good measure, the two-way star struck out a career-high 13 batters in eight scoreless innings the next day.