Shohei Ohtani is in the midst of one of the greatest individual seasons in Major League Baseball history. That may sound hyperbolic, but the man is leading the league in home runs with 33 and boasts an OPS of 1.062, all while posting a 3.49 ERA in 13 starts for the Angels.
It’s truly insane stuff, and he doesn’t do anything cheaply. At the plate, he’s in the top 1 percent in max exit velocity (119 mph), top 2 percent in average exit velocity (93.7 mph), top 1 percent in barrel rate (26 percent), top 1 percent in hard hit rate (56.9 percent), which can all be seen in the mammoth home runs he hits that go viral. On the mound he’s 60th percentile in fastball velocity (96 mph average) and is 85th percentile in strikeout percentage. All of this is to say, he is one of the coolest baseball players to walk the planet and does so with a joy and enthusiasm that is infectious, which makes complaints that he uses an interpreter incredibly stupid.
Ohtani was selected as an All-Star as both a pitcher and hitter, and he is going to be the unquestioned star of All-Star festivities in Denver this week. On Monday night, he’s going to be the top seed in the Home Run Derby, and then on Tuesday he’s going to bat leadoff for the AL and be the starting pitcher opposite Max Scherzer, as was announced on Monday afternoon.
AL starting pitcher ✅
AL leadoff hitter ✅Get ready for a Sho. pic.twitter.com/TJIQmig8xG
— MLB (@MLB) July 12, 2021
It’s pretty outrageous for someone to leadoff the All-Star Game and be the starting pitcher, but Ohtani has more than earned that special designation and it’s going to make for a must-see start to the game. The complete AL and NL lineups can be found below.
American League
1. Shohei Ohtani, DH
2. Vladimir Guerrero Jr., 1B
3. Xander Bogaerts, SS
4. Aaron Judge, RF
5. Rafael Devers, 3B
6. Marcus Semien, 2B
7. Salvador Perez, C
8. Teoscar Hernandez, LF
9. Cedric Mullins, CF
National League
1. Fernando Tatis Jr., SS
2. Max Muncy, DH
3. Nolan Arenado, 3B
4. Freddie Freeman, 1B
5. Nick Castellanos, RF
6. Jesse Winker, LF
7. JT Realmuto, C
8. Bryan Reynolds, CF
9. Adam Frazier, 2B
