In June 2019, Shohei Ohtani hit for the cycle in a game against the Tampa Bay Rays.

A cycle occurs when a batter records at least one single, double, triple, and home run in a single game. It is an extremely rare achievement, accomplished by only around 70 players in Japanese professional baseball history and roughly 300 players in Major League Baseball.

The most difficult part of hitting for the cycle is usually the triple. It requires not only power but also speed, and many players fall short because they cannot complete that final piece.

In Ohtani’s case, however, he possesses both the power and the speed, allowing him to come close to the cycle multiple times.

On the day he became the first Japanese player to achieve this milestone in Major League Baseball, Ohtani expressed his joy, saying that being the first “could become a great source of confidence going forward.”

Since then, Ohtani has had several opportunities where he was just one hit away from completing another cycle.

One particularly notable instance came in April 2023 against the Oakland Athletics. In that game, Ohtani started as both the No. 3 hitter and the starting pitcher. He earned his fourth win of the season while falling just one hit short of the cycle.

Had he completed it, he would have become the first starting pitcher in history to hit for the cycle.

Although he narrowly missed that historic achievement, it is easy to imagine that Ohtani may accomplish it someday.

Source

This quote comes from a Japanese book published in Japan and is not currently available in English.

Sho-Time: Shohei Ohtani, the Man Who Changed 120 Years of Major League History, p.176