Paul Klee: Ohtani! Ohtani!’ MLB superstar Shohei Ohtani and Coors Field blasted off at Home Run Derby
DENVER — The rumors and legends are true, every last one of them. Shohei Ohtani is all that.
“Ohtani! Ohtani! Ohtani!” Only one man’s name was chanted by 49,089 at Coors Field during the MLB All-Star Game Home Run Derby on a sweaty, spectacular Monday night. And he didn’t win. He didn’t even get out of the first round.
But Ohtani, the Angels star who in one full season has become the face of baseball, is that game-changing already. Tuesday night at 20th and Blake in the real All-Star Game, Ohtani bats leadoff for the American League. Then he will take the mound as the starting pitcher for the American League. He throws 100 mph, and Monday he launched three bombs that traveled over 500 feet — in 1 minute of extra time. Who does that? The man, the myth, the perfect addition to a league where the biggest other story has been “sticky substances”: Ohtani.
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“He’s doing things we’ve never seen in this game before,” Yankees star Aaron Judge said, and another one of those things will be jersey sales. A saleswoman at the Colorado Convention Center said they were almost sold-out of Ohtani gear. It wasn’t yet noon on Monday.
On the mound, he’s 4-1 with a 3.49 ERA. At the plate, he leads everyone with 33 home runs. On a magazine, he looks like a Japanese model.
Ohtani is Peyton Manning if Manning also was Steve Atwater. (Peyton shagged fly balls during batting practice. Is there three of him? Is he everywhere?) Ohtani is Nate MacKinnon if MacKinnon also was Patrick Roy. Here, let’s put it this way: I sat with The Gazette’s Woody Paige in the right field target zone. Woody’s done 52 years in this silly business, and actually bought a ticket for one player: Shohei Ohtani. Monday night, he didn’t even buy my peanuts.
Pete Alonso repeated as Derby champ. He’s a fisherman and a hunter obligated to live in New York City, but that hasn’t dampened Pete’s spirit. Right before he beat Baltimore’s Trey Mancini in the final, Alonso pumped a fist to Bon Jovi. Then his second swing sent the ball 509 feet at Helton Burger. Did I mention the humidor was turned off? And the balls might’ve been Titleists? Giddy baseball lovers came for Ohtani and stayed for Alonso.
“I feel like I’m the best power hitter in the game,” Alonso said.
Coors Field is the worst place to build a winning club, the best ever to host a Home Run Derby. It was an ideal event to make LoDo feel alive again, but if you thought the #Coors jokes were ornery before … wait till after this All-Star Week.
Every Home Run Derby should be played here and feature Alonso, Judge and Ohtani, and Ohtani gets twice as much time to hit bombs. Wish you all could have heard Coors with Ohtani at bat. It hasn’t buzzed like that since Nolan Arenado’s walk-off cycle on Father’s Day 2017.
Speaking of, here was Arenado’s scouting report on his old team: “The rotation’s been fine. You’ve got (Germán) Márquez, who’s a true ace. (Kyle) Freeland, who’s tough. (Antonio) Senzatela, who’s turned the corner. Those three guys are really good. Then Jon Gray, he’s got good stuff too. If you’ve got good starting pitching and get some quality at-bats you’ll be just fine. That division is tough. They play in a really good division with three teams that are really, really good.”
OK, enough from the Cardinal.
More Ohtani, please.
He’s 28 and has a Michael Jordan presence to him. Of course that can’t hold up over time — right? — but at this point it’s not a stretch. Even if you root for his opponent you don’t want him to foul out. He has a Tiger Woods appeal, at least at the moment. As long as he’s in the hunt, the whole event carries a buzz. Reds’ 22-year-old Juan Soto unloaded a 520-foot missile rocket shot, the longest home-run ball of the night, but Soto also zapped the energy out of Coors because of who he beat — Ohtani.
OK, I need to come clean. Another guy heard his name chanted, or something close. There was a man in right field with a huge beer belly, and all of right field chanted, “Take it off!” until he removed his shirt. (Thanks, right field.) And the MLB offices must be thanking the baseball gods for Ohtani’s arrival from the Hokkaido Nippo-Ham Fighters in Japan. It even looked like MLB was setting up Ohtani to win to raise his profile a smidge more. Where was Vlad Guerrero Jr., who’s second (to Ohtani) with 28 homers? Where was Judge? They’re both playing Tuesday night but “elected” to stay out of the Derby.
“I already won one. I’m kind of happy with the trophy I have at home,” Judge said Monday. “It think it’s time for someone else to win one.”
Me thinks MLB had someone in mind, and there’s nothing wrong with pushing Ohtani, the best story in sports. Can’t imagine a more marketable new 20-something anywhere than this guy. It’s wild that most casual sports fans wouldn’t recognize the likes of Alonso (35 homers in Round 1!) and Joey Gallo on a sidewalk. Don’t stop there, MLB. Paint Ohtani’s handsome mug on every RTD stop. Print his face on the official baseball. He’ll sign for $500 million in 2024. Rig every Derby for Shohei.
The Derby contestants all wore No. 44 to honor Hank Aaron. The signed jerseys should be auctioned off with the proceeds going to Little League organizations in Atlanta, where the All-Star Game was scheduled to be held before politics got in the way and Colorado got lucky.
Boy, did Colorado get lucky. What a show it’s been. Twenty-three years since Coors hosted the All-Star Game, and the game’s totally different even in that time. Ken Griffey Jr. won in ’98 with 19 bombs — over three rounds. “The Kid” returned to see the first three batters in this Derby hit 20 bombs— in the first round. Sticky, juiced, it’s all entertainment in the end.
And there’s no better entertainment than a once-in-a-lifetime talent like No. 17 with the Angels. Any sport. Anywhere. Shoot, “Ohtani! Ohtani!” might mess around Tuesday and crush one to the Party Deck, right before he strikes out the side — in the first inning. It’s for real.
Sho-Time is all that and then some.
(Contact Gazette sports columnist Paul Klee at paul.klee@gazette.com or on Twitter at @bypaulklee.)
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