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Watch: Ohtani sets blistering speed mark for starting pitchers

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Until Tuesday night, no starting pitcher had hit 101 miles per hour on the radar gun in 2018.

Then along came Los Angeles Angels two-way phenom Shohei Ohtani.

Not content with his .333 batting average and three home runs, the Japan native decided to show off his pitching abilities against the defending world champion Houston Astros.

Ohtani, whose blistering fastball is normally in the mid-to-upper-90s range, lit up the radar gun Tuesday, becoming just the third pitcher — and the first starter — to throw a pitch clocked at 101 mph or higher this year.

And he didn’t just do it once.

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In the bottom of the fifth inning, Ohtani threw perhaps his most impressive pitch of the day — a 101 mph fastball for a strike on the outside corner to Josh Reddick.


Ohtani hit 101 mph two more times in that at-bat, which eventually ended in a lineout. According to ESPN, in Tuesday’s game, he threw four 101 mph pitches and eight total that reached 100. It’s worth noting that in the past decade, just six other starters have reached 101 mph.


Are you impressed by what you've seen thus far from Shohei Ohtani?

Even armed with a blistering fastball, Ohtani was not at his best Tuesday. He gave up four runs on six hits in five and one-third innings. Though he struck out seven men, he also walked five, leading to season-high 98-pitch effort.

“The Astros have a great lineup, and they made me work really hard,” Ohtani said after the game, via an interpreter. “So I need to kind of outwork them, outlast them. And if the pitch count goes up, there’s nothing I can do about that, but I just need to outlast them.”

Despite the walks, Ohtani indicated he thought he made good pitches on three-ball counts. The Astros just weren’t always biting.

“I felt like I made some good pitches on ball fours,” he said. “That was me being aggressive, trying to get them out. Even though I gave up five walks, I don’t think that was a big factor at this point. I was just trying to be aggressive and make good pitches.”

Angels manager Mike Scioscia seemed to agree, saying that even many of the balls Ohtani threw didn’t miss the strike zone by a whole lot.

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“You look at the five walks, but I tell you, Shohei wasn’t missing by much,” Scioscia said, according to MLB.com. “As the game went on, he got really good command of his split. He threw some terrific pitches. He just had to work hard — almost 100 pitches at and a third innings is a lot of work. He had good stuff. He gave us a chance to win.”

After receiving a no-decision in the game, which the Angels ended up winning 8-7, Ohtani is now 2-1 with a 4.43 earned run average. He’s struck out 26 batters in 20 and one-third innings.

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Joe Setyon was a deputy managing editor for The Western Journal who had spent his entire professional career in editing and reporting. He previously worked in Washington, D.C., as an assistant editor/reporter for Reason magazine.
Joe Setyon was deputy managing editor for The Western Journal with several years of copy editing and reporting experience. He graduated with a degree in communication studies from Grove City College, where he served as managing editor of the student-run newspaper. Joe previously worked as an assistant editor/reporter for Reason magazine, a libertarian publication in Washington, D.C., where he covered politics and wrote about government waste and abuse.
Birthplace
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