Los Angeles Angels star Shohei Ohtani has cooled off a bit at the plate as of late, but he is still reaching milestones on a weekly basis.
In the fifth inning of the Angels’ home game against the San Diego Padres, Ohtani stole second base with ease and later went on to score to extend the team’s key lead in the contest. The stolen base gave him 20 on the season, which is a notable career-high for him.
Ohtani became the latest player to join the exclusive 40 home runs and 20 stolen bases club.
Shohei Ohtani is the first player in @Angels history to hit 40+ HR and steal 20+ bases 👏 pic.twitter.com/3MVzX3f1Cp
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) August 29, 2021
He is the first American League player to achieve this feat since Curtis Granderson in 2011, when he finished with 41 home runs and 25 stolen bases in his second season with the New York Yankees.
More so, Ohtani joined Jose Canseco (1988, 1991, and 1998), Larry Walker (1997), Alfonso Soriano (2006) and Ronald Acuna Jr. (2019) as the only foreign-born players in MLB history to record at least 40 home runs and 20 stolen bases in a single season.
Shohei Ohtani is the first Japanese-born player with a 40 HR/20 SB season. pic.twitter.com/bOc5hAWH3J
— MLB Stats (@MLBStats) August 29, 2021
To top it all off, Ohtani is the lone Angels player in team history to achieve this feat. This is quite impressive as even Mike Trout has not reached this notable milestone, although he did come close over the 2018 season where he finished with 39 home runs and 24 stolen bases.
Barring any major surprise over the upcoming final month of the regular season, Ohtani is well on his way to winning the American League MVP award for the first time in his career.
From his prowess at the plate to lights out performances on the mound, the two-way star has simply put together a campaign for the ages—and he still may not be done just yet in reaching historic milestones this season.
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