Shohei Ohtani is already achieving the unfathomable, and we’re still a little under a month before the Los Angeles Angels actually begin their 2023 regular season. He’s just doing it in a different — albeit familiar — uniform for now.
On Monday, during a 2023 World Baseball Classic exhibition in Japan, Ohtani played for Japan for the first time since he was 21. He essentially hadn’t appeared with his home nation’s team since joining the Angels in 2018.
Ohtani made it well worth the wait in his glorious return to the Kyocera Dome against the Hanshin Tigers.
At the top of the third inning, pitcher Hiroto Saiki gave Ohtani a solid meatball over the plate. The superstar dropped to one knee (!) and absolutely destroyed the baseball going the other way for a 420-foot home run:
Shohei Ohtani dropped to one knee and hit a ball 420 feet pic.twitter.com/pONg5XA80Q
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) March 6, 2023
Oh, my word. Just imagine having that kind of power where you can mash a ball that far, and it barely needs any leg drive. Take a bow, Ohtani.
But was he done? Friends, no, he was not.
Later, Ohtani would cruise through a routine three-run blast:
SHOHEI OHTANI WITH ANOTHER 3-RUN HOMERUN!!! HES NOT REAL!!!
6RBI’s!!!!
pic.twitter.com/jXebo3kBQy— Soto ⚾️ (@SotoP_23) March 6, 2023
Ohtani would finish the day 2-of-3 with two homers and six (6!) RBIs. Remember, this was supposed to be a tune-up! And for others, I bet it was. For Ohtani, even on a day where he hits dingers from one knee, it’s clear the extraordinary remains ordinary to him.
