Los Angeles Angels Shohei Ohtani (29) surpassed Babe Ruth, a legendary home run hitter and left-handed pitcher in the major leagues. 

On the 10th메이저놀이터 (Korean time), Ohtani started the game against the Houston Astros at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, California, USA, and recorded a loss with 6 hits (1 home run), 2 walks, 7 strikeouts and 3 runs in 7 innings. 

Although he became a losing pitcher, Ohtani recorded 507 strikeouts in his career by capturing 7 strikeouts that day, surpassing Ruth’s 501 strikeouts. MLB.com, the official major league media outlet, and Baseball Reference, an American baseball statistics site, show Ruth’s strikeouts at 488, but ahead of Ohtani’s appearance on the 4th, Elias Sports Bureau, a US sports statistics media outlet, corrected it to 501 strikeouts, and MLB.com also corrected it to 501 strikeouts. He introduced Ruth’s record by striking out. 

American media Yahoo Sports said, “Ohtani struck out Jeremy Pena that day, breaking Ruth’s record for the first time in 88 years. Ohtani became the player with the most strikeouts among players with at least 100 home runs.” 

Known as a home run hitter, Ruth was also a pitcher early in his career. He recorded 94 wins, 46 losses, and an earned run average of 2.28 in 163 major league games (1221⅓ innings), leaving a record that was just as good as his hitter performance. Because of this, Ruth was also called the best two-handed player before Ohtani. However, unlike Ohtani, who plays pitcher and hitter at the same time, Ruth focused on pitching in the early part of his career and hitting in the second half. 

Ohtani is 32-15 with a 2.93 ERA in 71 major league games (395⅔innings). Although he still lacks cumulative performance compared to Ruth, his strikeout ability is overwhelming, and he has already surpassed Ruth’s career strikeout record while digesting only about 1/3 of Ruth’s innings. 

However, it is close to impossible for Ohtani to surpass Ruth as a hitter. Yahoo Sports said, “The important difference between Ruth and Ohtani is the home run record. Ohtani is .294/.362/.515 slash line this season, and he is on the MVP level. But he has a long way to go to rise above ‘The Great Bambino’ (Ruth’s nickname) as a hitter. Ohtani now has 134 homers in his career, but Ruth has hit 714. Ohtani is now playing six seasons, but Ruth played 22 years from 1914 to 1935.” 

Ohtani said, “To beat Ruth’s record is great. But he thinks he could have struck out more batters today. There is still a long season left. It’s still early in the season. I just want to finish the season in good health,” he said.