As of the end of the 2024 season, Shohei Ohtani has hit 48 home runs in Japan and 225 in Major League Baseball, for a combined total of 273 home runs across both leagues.

He has also won the home run title twice, clearly proving what Ichiro once described as “the first Japanese home run hitter to succeed in Major League Baseball.”

With this many home runs, milestone achievements naturally follow, along with records such as being the first Japanese or Asian player to reach certain marks.

One such milestone was his 200th career home run across Japan and the U.S., which Ohtani reached on June 24, 2023, in a game against the Colorado Rockies.

While many of Ohtani’s recent achievements have been “firsts” for Japanese players, this particular record—being a combined total—placed him as the 12th Japanese player with Major League experience to reach that mark, following Seiya Suzuki of the Chicago Cubs.

However, players who reached this milestone before him had already hit a large number of home runs in Japan—Suzuki, for example, hit 182 before moving to MLB.

In contrast, Ohtani had only 48 home runs in Japan, making it extremely unusual for a player with that background to reach 200 career home runs at the Major League level.

At the time, Ohtani was leading the home run race, and his reaction was simple:

“I’ll do my best to hit number 201 tomorrow.”

For Ohtani, records and numbers are something to look back on after the season.

Source

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

Newsweek Japan, October 10/17, 2023, p.30