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Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani is now the all-time leader in MLB home runs among Japanese-born players. Sunday afternoon at Dodger Stadium (GameTracker), Ohtani sent a hanging breaking ball from New York Mets righty Adrian Houser halfway up the bleachers for a two-run home run. It is his 176th MLB home run, breaking a tie with Hideki Matsui.
Here is Ohtani’s milestone home run:
“I’m happy personally,” Ohtani said through an interpreter after tying Matsui’s record last week (via MLB.com). “It’s an honor to be in the same stage as him and, obviously, it’s a big deal in the Japanese baseball industry. So I’m going to look forward to the next one.”
Ohtani hit his 176th MLB home run in his 2,979th plate appearance. Matsui needed 5,066 plate appearances to get to 175 homers. Ichiro Suzuki hit 117 home runs in MLB, third most among Japanese-born players. No other player born in Japan has hit even 50 homers in the big leagues.
Matsui, of course, has Ohtani beat on career home runs. Matsui hit 331 home runs with the Yomiuri Giants, giving him 508 for his career. Ohtani slugged 48 home runs with the Nippon Ham Fighters and has 224 home runs combined between Japan and MLB, with many more years ahead of him.
Sunday’s home run was Ohtani’s fifth of 2024. The only Japanese-born player with more home runs as a Dodger is Ohtani’s manager, Dave Roberts. Roberts was born in Okinawa, where his father was stationed with the Marines. He hit seven homers with the Dodgers.
Ohtani, 29, entered play Sunday with a .359/.419/.630 batting line. He leads the league in doubles (11), extra-base hits (16), and total bases (58).