“Ichiro is someone I admire.”
Shohei Ohtani (30, LA Dodgers) succeeded in stealing for the 57th time of the season in an away game against the Colorado Rockies in 2024 Major League Baseball at Coors Field in Denver, Colorado on the 28th (Korea time). He stole second base in the top of the second inning with one out and runners on first and third and Mookie Betts at bat with a 4-1 lead. He exceeded Ichiro Suzuki’s 56 steals in 2001 and achieved the most steals in a season for Japanese and Asian major leaguers.
In addition, with runners on the second and third bases with no outs in the top of the sixth inning with a 6-2 lead, he pulled six high changeups at the full count against Colorado right-hander Anthony Molina to draw a three-run arch. His 54th homer for this season. With one more homer, he will become the first Major League player to achieve 55-55.
After the game, Ohtani confessed his true feelings about Ichiro to MLB.com . MLB.com also added that Ohtani has the most homers and most steals in a single season of the Dodgers’ Japanese Major Leaguer, surpassing manager Dave Roberts, and surpassing Hideki Matsui for the most homeruns (225 homers) in a Japanese Major Leaguer. Of course, he is leading the Asian Major Leaguer by beating out Choo Shin-soo.
What’s more, MLB.com paid attention to is the batting triple crown. He had 54 home runs and 130 RBIs to rank No. 1 in the National League. He is second only to Aaron Judge (58 home runs and 144 RBIs) in the entire Major League. 메이저사이트
The key is to overcome. Ohtani is five runs behind Luis Arraez (San Diego Padres) with a batting average of 0.309 through Sunday. The Major League will wrap up the regular season on March 30 except for the doubleheader between the New York Mets and the Atlanta Braves on March 1. Ohtani has two more games to play.
There is a good chance that Ohtani will overtake Araez. Even if the team has expanded its scope to 28 at-bats for a 0.643 batting average, and 15 and 30 games in the recent seven games, Ohtani has a very strong batting average of 0.484 and 0.374. Moreover, Colorado is the weakest team in the National League. It is safe to say that no pitcher can block Ohtani. The fact that the venue of the game is batter-friendly Coors Field is another favorable factor for Ohtani.
On the other hand, Araez’s batting pace at the end of the season is not good. He has a batting average of only 0.179 in the last seven games. However, he recovered after a long time by recording three hits in five at-bats against the Arizona Diamondbacks on the 28th. However, he allowed Ohtani to chase after him, as he was tied to no hits in 12 at-bats in the last three consecutive games against the Los Angeles Dodgers on the 25th and 27th.
MLB.com said Ohtani’s batting average is within Arraez’s chasing range. “Ohtani is close to 200 hits (194) for this season. Every record he can achieve is on the radar. It will be an amazing season. Whether it is a potential triple crown or 60-60 we should try to reach the 1-yard line as soon as possible,” Roberts said.