Angels phenom Shohei Ohtani makes history with 30th home run of season

Ohtani became the third player to have 30 or more home runs before the All-Star break in the past 10 seasons, joining Chris Davis (2013) and Christian Yelich (2019). The native of Japan also is the first player in AL history to reach 30 home runs and 10 stolen bases in his team's first 81 games of the season. The only other players to have done it are Sammy Sosa (1998) and Albert Pujols (2009).

On top of that, Ohtani joined Hideki Matsui as the only players born in Japan with a 30-homer season. The Angels star's six multihomer games are tied with Matsui for the second-most by a Japanese-born player. 

According to ESPN Stats and Information, Ohtani's 30th home run on Friday passed Babe Ruth for the most by a player who made at least 10 appearances as a pitcher in a single season. 

Ohtani's play over the past month drew praise from Angels manager Joe Maddon, who couldn't even come up with the right words to describe how phenomenal the superstar has been. 

"Maybe supercalifragilisticexpialidocious," Maddon said, according to ESPN. "Everytime he swings the bat it looks like it could be a home run. He has the patience to draw a walk and then is a really aggressive and astute base runner. And then he pitches. He's always prepared and under control. It's an All-Star performance above and beyond."

The former Rookie of the Year was selected to his first All-Star Game this season, and Maddon says the slugger wants to both pitch and hit in the July 13 Midsummer Classic at Coors Field. 

Ohtani is also competing in the Home Run Derby, so if he's able to pitch and hit in the All-Star Game, he'll draw in a massive audience across the events in Denver. 

The dual-threat is 3-1 on the mound this season with a 3.60 ERA, 1.27 WHIP and 83 strikeouts in 60 innings across 12 starts. As for hitting, he's slashing .280/.364/.705 with 30 home runs and 66 RBI in 76 games.