Shohei Ohtani's career stats are stunningly similar to Babe Ruth's

Ohtani added to his career home run total during the Angels' 9-8 loss to the Houston Astros on Sunday, smacking his 34th long ball of the 2023 season. Ohtani has matched last year's home run total and is now on pace for 59, which would shatter his career high of 46.

Ruth held the AL's single season home run record with 60 (set in 1927) for 34 years, before Roger Maris hit 61 dingers in 1961. Maris' mark stood as the junior circuit's record for 61 years, until Aaron Judge smashed 62 during his 2022 AL MVP campaign.

With the never-ending trade rumors surrounding Ohtani, it's sometimes easy to forget how amazing he is. Ohtani is truly a once-in-a-generation, if not once-in-a-lifetime talent.

After some hesitancy at the start of his big-league career on whether to employ Ohtani as both a hitter and a pitcher, Los Angeles dropped the "Ohtani Rules" ahead of the 2021 season and he's become a full-blown stud since.

In addition to the AL MVP award in 2021, Ohtani was a first time All-Star and first time Silver Slugger award winner that year while posting career highs at the plate in home runs (46), RBI (100), runs scored (103), triples (league-best eight), stolen bases (26) and OPS (.965). Ohtani was an All-Star again in 2022, finishing second to Judge in the AL MVP race and fourth in the league's Cy Young voting after going 15-9 (career-high win total), with career bests in ERA (2.33), WHIP (1.01) and strikeouts (219).

Remarkably, he's been even better in 2023, at least at the plate.

With Judge injured, Ohtani is the runaway favorite for his second MVP award, as he not only leads the league in home runs, but triples (six), slugging percentage (.665), OPS (1.051) and total bases (236). On the mound, the righty is 7-5 with a 3.50 ERA, 1.12 WHIP and 139 strikeouts across 105 1/3 innings pitched covering 18 starts, while posting a league-best 6.2 hits allowed per nine innings.

Ohtani and the Angels played their first (and only) road set against the Yankees in April, with the series opener taking place on the 100th anniversary of Ruth's first career home run at the original Yankee Stadium. While he still has a long way to match Ruth in most of his batting numbers, Ohtani passed the Bambino in career strikeouts in May.

Ruth finished his Hall of Fame career with 714 home runs (third all-time), a .342 batting average, .474 on-base percentage and .690 slugging percentage (best in MLB history). On the mound, he went 94-46 record with a 2.28 ERA and 1.16 WHIP across 163 career outings (147 starts).