Derby announcement, two homers for Ohtani

As Shohei Ohtani continues his historic 2021 campaign, piling up feats daily as both a hitter and a pitcher, we’re keeping track of the most amazing facts and stats about his season.

June 18: Derby announcement, two homers

On Friday, Ohtani announced he would participate in the 2021 T-Mobile Home Run Derby, becoming the first player who also pitches to do so. Then, in the Angels' game later that day, he crushed two homers to bring his season total to 21. Along with his 73 strikeouts this season, his 20 homers make him the first player with at least 20 home runs as a hitter and 70 strikeouts as a pitcher in a single season.

June 15: 115.8 mph home run

Ohtani hit his 18th homer of the year, moving into a tie for third-most in the Majors. And it was absolutely crushed, with a 115.8-mph exit velocity. He now has three home runs this season that have touched 115 mph in exit velocity. Only Giancarlo Stanton has more such home runs, with four.

June 8: 470-ft homer

Ohtani hit a 470-ft home run, the longest of his career and longest by any Angels player not named Mike Trout tracked by Statcast (since 2015). It was his fourth home run this season of 440 ft or more, tied for second-most in the Majors. The homer had a 111.7 mph exit velocity, and Ohtani also tacked on a 112.6 mph double later in the game. He became just the second Angels player since '15 with multiple 111-plus mph extra-base hits in a single game.

June 6: Another stolen base for Ohtani

Ohtani stole his eighth base of the season Sunday, adding to a stat sheet that continues to impress. When we combine those stolen bases with his strikeout total so far this year on the mound, we get quite the short list. This is the sixth time in the modern era (since 1900) that a player has had at least eight stolen bases and at least 60 strikeouts as a pitcher in a single season. He joins himself in 2018, 1905 Bill Donovan, 1901 Bill Dinneen and 1901 Nixey Callahan.

June 5: Home run the day after striking out 10

A day after his 10-strikeout, no-walk game, Ohtani crushed a 112.5 mph home run in the first inning for the Angels. He became just the second player to strike out 10 batters and then homer in his team's next game since the mound was moved to its current distance in 1893, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. He joined the White Sox Gary Peters, who struck out 10 on July 17, 1964, then hit a pinch-hit walk-off home run in the 13th inning on July 19, in the team's next game.

There have also been two players to accomplish those feats in back-to-back games but in the opposite order. In 2008, CC Sabathia homered on July 13, then struck out 10 in the Brewers' next game, which came after the All-Star break. And in 1898, Cy Seymour homered on Sept. 10 and struck out 12 batters on Sept. 11.

June 4: 10-strikeout, no-walk game

In the 20th pitching start of his career, Ohtani did something he had never done before: did not issue a single walk. And he didn't just exhibit that control, but he also did it with 10 strikeouts, turning in the fourth 10-strikeout game of his career. He's the only player in the modern era (since 1900) with at least 15 homers in a season and at least one 10-strikeout game, let alone two -- having done this in both 2018 and '21.

May 25: 117-mph home run

Ohtani's 15th home run of the season, which put him into a tie for second in the Majors behind only Vladimir Guerrero Jr., had a 117.0 mph exit velocity. That's the Angels' hardest-hit home run tracked by Statcast (since 2015). By reaching 15 home runs this season, Ohtani now has the second individual season in MLB history with 40 strikeouts on the mound and at least 15 homers. The other such individual season? It was also Ohtani -- in 2018, when he hit 22 home runs and struck out 63 batters.

May 22: Two more extra-base hits

Ohtani showed off his power and speed on Saturday night, with a hustle double and a triple to bring his MLB-leading extra-base hits total to 28. That's the third-most by any Angels player through 43 games as a batter in a season, behind only 2017 Mike Trout (30) and 2000 Troy Glaus (29). Ohtani had a sprint speed of 30.2 ft/sec on the double, an elite mark. He needed that speed to make an extra-base hit out of it, with an exit velocity of just 68.5 mph, the softest-hit extra-base hit he's had in the Majors.

May 18: Nine amazing Ohtani stats

Ohtani crushed his 13th home run of the season on Monday night, gaining sole possession of the Major League lead, and now he's up to 14. Every time he plays -- which has been every night for the Angels so far this season -- there’s another historic feat. Let’s recap a handful of those to get started tracking what he does throughout 2021.

1) Ohtani’s 13th homer on Monday came on a pitch 4.19 feet above the ground. That’s the second-highest pitch anyone has homered off this season and the highest such homer by any Angels player in the pitch-tracking era (since 2008). It caught the attention of many, including former Angels player Mark Trumbo, who texted the Angels broadcast team to marvel at it. Compliments on a homer like that are particularly notable coming from Trumbo, who homered on a pitch 4.57 ft above the ground in 2017 while with the Orioles -- the highest pitch anyone has homered off since ‘08.

2) That homer was Ohtani’s 60th in his career. Couple that with his 106 career strikeouts, and he’s in rare air. Ohtani is the fifth player in MLB history with at least 100 strikeouts as a pitcher and 60 homers as a hitter. He joined Babe Ruth (714 HR, 488 K), George Van Haltren (69 HR, 281 K), Rick Ankiel (76 HR, 269 K) and Johnny Lindell (72 HR, 146 K). It’s worth noting that Ankiel is the only one of those players other than Ohtani to play a game anytime after 1954.

3) With Ohtani having the MLB lead in homers entering his start on Wednesday, he’ll repeat a feat he also did on April 26 and May 11 -- making a pitching start while leading the Majors in homers. Before Ohtani did it on April 26, no player had done so since Ruth on June 13, 1921. And now, it’s practically routine for Ohtani.

4) Entering Wednesday, Ohtani leads the Majors in homers with 14 and has the most unhittable pitch in baseball this year (min. 30 PA ending on pitch type): his splitter, which has an .028 opponent batting average. Overall, his opponents are hitting just .126 against him, the lowest opponent batting average of any pitcher this season (min 25 IP). And he has a 21.5% barrel rate at the plate, which leads the Majors (min. 100 batted balls).

5) Ohtani leads the Majors with 26 extra-base hits entering Tuesday, with two triples and 10 doubles on top of his 14 home runs. In true Ohtani fashion, he also has allowed just two extra-base hits this year, the fewest of any pitcher to throw at least 25 innings.

6) In his last start, Ohtani struck out 10 batters -- his first 10-strikeout game since May 13, 2018, and the third of his career. With 10 homers on the year already at that point, Ohtani became the second player in MLB history with 10 home runs and a 10-strikeout game at any point in a season. The other? Ohtani himself, in 2018 -- when he had two 10-strikeout games and knocked 22 home runs.

7) In that start, Ohtani also moved to right field later in the game after his pitching start was over. He became the third player in the modern era (since 1900) to strike out 10 or more batters and play a non-pitcher position in the same game, joining Sam McDowell on July 6, 1970 (15 Ks, played 2B) and Harvey Haddix on Sept. 28, 1952 (11 Ks, played RF), according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

8) The day after his last start, Ohtani batted leadoff for the Angels. He became the first player since Ray Caldwell in 1916 to start a game on the mound, then bat leadoff for his team the next day, according to Elias.

9) The notes have been pouring in on Ohtani since his first start, when he crushed a 115.2 mph, 451-ft homer and also reached 100 on the radar gun in the same game. He became the first player with a 110-plus mph batted ball and a 100-plus mph pitch in the same game tracked by Statcast (since 2015).