2022

Ohtani batting in 2022

See also: 2022 Los Angeles Angels season
On March 22, 2022, Major League Baseball introduced a new rule that allows for a pitcher in the
batting order to remain in the game as a designated hitter after they are pulled from the pitching
mound, colloquially dubbed the "Ohtani rule".[134] Ohtani was named as the Opening Day starter
pitcher for the Angels' 2022 season.[135] He pitched 4+2⁄3 innings against the Houston Astros, allowing
one earned run and one walk while striking out 9.[136] He became the first player in MLB history to
start Opening Day as both the starting pitcher and the leadoff hitter. [137] During a game against the
Astros on April 20, Ohtani batted twice in the top of the first inning, becoming the first starting pitcher
to do so since at least 1900. In the same game, Ohtani pitched 5+1⁄3 perfect innings before giving up
a single to former teammate Jason Castro, the only hit of the game for Houston. Ohtani finished the
game with 6 innings pitched with 1 hit, no runs, and 1 walk surrendered, and 12 strikeouts, tying his
career high. On offense, he went 2–4 with a run and 2 RBIs.[138] Pitching against the Texas
Rangers on April 14, Ohtani gave up his first-ever career grand slam against Jonah Heim in an
eventual 10–5 loss by the Angels. Coincidentally, it was also the first-ever grand slam hit by Heim. [139]
Against the Boston Red Sox on May 5, 2022, Ohtani, while hitting third and making his first career
start on the mound at Fenway Park, became the first starting pitcher to bat in one of the top four
spots in a game at Fenway since Babe Ruth did so on September 20, 1919. He threw seven
scoreless innings with 11 strikeouts in the Angels' 8–0 victory over the Red Sox, while also going 2-
for-4 from the plate and aanRBI single in the eighth inning to become the second starting pitcher to
ever record a hit at Fenway after Roger Clemens in 1996, since the implementation of
the designated hitter in 1973.[140] His induced 29 swings and misses became the most registered
number of swings and misses in a game for 2022.[141]
 Shohei Ohtani in July 2022
Ohtani recorded two home runs, including a grand slam, on May 9, 2022, against the Tampa Bay
Rays, marking the second time of the 2022 season and the eighth time in his career for Ohtani to
record a multi-homer game, surpassing Ichiro Suzuki for the most by a Japanese-born player in MLB
history,[142][non-primary source needed] while also going 3-for-4 and a career-high five RBIs. The grand slam was the
first of his professional career, including both NPB and MLB.[143] On May 14, 2022, Ohtani hit his
100th career MLB home run, making him the third Japanese-born player with at least 100 homers in
the majors, trailing only Hideki Matsui with 175 and Ichiro Suzuki with 117. Ohtani also joined Babe
Ruth as the only players with at least 100 home runs and at least 250 strikeouts as a pitcher. [144]

On June 9, 2022, Ohtani hit a go-ahead two-run home run and pitched seven innings, including
throwing a 101 mph fastball to strike out Rafael Devers to end the third – the hardest strikeout pitch
of his career, in a 5–2 win over the Boston Red Sox to end the Angels' 14-game losing streak, the
longest in franchise history.[145] The victory resulted in a six-game pitching span from June 9 to July
13, where Ohtani went 6–0 with a 0.45 ERA (39.2 IP & 2 ER) and 58 strikeouts, (while also hitting
eight HR with a .997 OPS), while becoming the fourth pitcher all-time to go 6–0 with 58+ SO and 2-
or-fewer ER in a six-game span, joining Cy Young winners Johan Santana (2004), R.A.
Dickey (2012) and Clayton Kershaw (2014).[141]

In a two-game span from June 21–22, 2022, Ohtani made MLB history by becoming the first player
in the American League or National League to have at least eight RBIs in a game and strike out at
least 10 batters the next day.[146] On June 21, Ohtani hit a pair of three-run homers and set a career-
high with eight RBIs, becoming the first player born in Japan to have eight RBI in a game and just
the eighth player in Angels history to have eight RBIs in a game. Ohtani's eight RBIs were the most
by an Angels player since Garret Anderson had a franchise-record 10 RBIs against the New York
Yankees on August 21, 2007. It was also the most RBIs in a game by a Japanese-born player,
surpassing seven-RBI games from Hideki Matsui in 2009 and Tadahito Iguchi in 2006.[147] The
following day, Ohtani set another career high with 13 strikeouts over eight scoreless innings to help
lift the Angels to a 5–0 win over the Kansas City Royals, becoming the 19th player in Angels history
with 13 strikeouts in a game and the first since Patrick Sandoval on July 24, 2021, against
the Minnesota Twins.[146]

On July 6, 2022, against the Miami Marlins, Ohtani made MLB history again by becoming the first
player since RBI became an official statistic in 1920 to record 10 strikeouts as a pitcher, two RBIs as
a batter, and a stolen base all in a single game.[148] His 111 strikeouts over 81 innings pitched in the
game made him the first Angels pitcher to record 110 K's in the first half in fewer than 100 innings
and the first Angels pitcher to 110 K's in the first half since Garrett Richards in 2014. He also
became the fourth Angels player with multiple seasons of 15 home runs and 10 stolen bases before
the All-Star break and the eighth Major Leaguer since earned runs were official in 1913 to record 40-
plus strikeouts and zero earned runs in a four-start span.[148]

2nd All-Star
For a second straight year, Ohtani was voted into All-Star Game by fans as the starter at the
designated hitter position on July 8[149] and on July 10 he was selected as a starting pitcher again,
making history as the only player to be selected as an All-Star as both a position player and a pitcher
twice.[150] Ohtani announced; however, that he would only participate as a hitter in the AAll-StarGame,
even though he was considered as a candidate to start for the AL team. Ohtani declined to pitch,
citing a scheduling conflict and his preference to "prioritize the season over the All-Star Game." [151]

In a game against the Oakland Athletics where he pitched and hit, Ohtani completed three historical
feats on August 9, 2022. Ohtani joined Babe Ruth in an exclusive 10-homer, 10-win club; moved up
on the all-time home run list for Japanese-born players; and set a single-season career high in
strikeouts. Ohtani tossed six scoreless innings to earn his 10th win of the season for the first time in
his Major League career. He and Babe Ruthare the only two players in AL and NL history to win at
least 10 games on the mound and hit at least 10 home runs in the same season. Ed Rileand Bullet
Rogan also accomplished this feat in the Negro leagues as well. Ohtani's 25th home run of the
season was his 118th career home run, which surpassed Ichiro Suzuki's 117 career home runs to
become second place on the all-time Major League home run list for Japanese-born players.
Ohtani's five strikeouts in the game brought him to 157 on the season, a new single-season high
eclipsing his 2021 total of 156. Combined with his playing days in Nippon Professional Baseball,
Ohtani reached 1,000 strikeouts between NPB (624) and MLB (379).[152]

Against the New York Yankees on August 30, Ohtani launched a go-ahead three-run home run off
Yankees ace Gerrit Cole in the sixth inning to become the only player in MLB history with 10+
pitching wins and 30+ HR in the same season.[153] Ohtani had a career-best, team-leading 18-game
hit streak that began on September 14 and ended on October 3. [141]

The Angels avoided arbitration with Ohtani on October 1, signing Ohtani to a one-year deal worth
$30 million for the 2023 season. At $30 million, the deal set a new record for a player in his third
year of arbitration, surpassing the $27 million Mookie Betts received before the 2020 season, and
also gives Ohtani the biggest salary raise of any arbitration-eligible player; a $24.5 million raise from
his 2022 salary of $5.5 million and $3 million of 2021.[154]

On October 5, Ohtani pitched five innings in a loss to the Oakland Athletics, becoming the first player
in the modern era to qualify for both the hitting and pitching leaderboards in one season, reaching
the limits of 3.1 plate appearances and one inning pitched per game.[9]

Ohtani finished his 2022 season with a 15–9 record, a 2.33 ERA, and 219 strikeouts in 166 innings.
He also hit .273/.356/.519 with 34 homers, 30 doubles, 11 stolen bases, and 95 RBIs in 157 games.
Among AL pitchers, Ohtani finished the year first in SO/9 innings rate (11.87), third in strikeouts
(219), fourth in ERA (2.33) and tied for fourth in wins (15), while amongst AL hitters, Ohtani ranked
fourth in homers (34), fifth in OPS (.875), fifth in total bases (304), third in intentional walks (14), tied
for third in extra-base hits (70), fifth in slugging (.519), tied for fourth in triples (6), seventh in RBIs
(95), seventh in walks (72), and tied for eighth in runs (90).[9] Ohtani also led the majors with a home-
to-first average time of 4.09 seconds and was the only player in the majors to tally at least six triples
and 34 home runs in 2022 (making him the only player to do so in a second consecutive year). [141] He
hit a ball with the highest exit velocity in major league baseball for the season, at 119.1 mph.[155] He
also had the fastest speed running from home plate to first base, at 4.09 seconds. [156]

The Angels announced that Ohtani was once again named as both the team's Los Angeles Angels
Player of the Year of 2022 and the team's Nick Adenhart Pitcher of the Year Award, as voted by his
teammates.[154]