Shohei Ohtani capping off another June power surge

Shohei Ohtani has been a revelation in June of 2024.

He has a dozen homers to his name and has been even more impactful since sliding into the leadoff spot during Mookie Betts' absence. He has a .545 ISO & 269 wRC+ in 58 leadoff plate appearances over that stretch.

The reality, though, is that somehow nothing that Ohtani does during the month of June should spark surprise. As good as his overall 215 wRC+, .426 ISO, and BB% over 17 percent have been, it's roughly par for the course in Shohei's June career.

With Saturday's home run, Ohtani now has 55 big flies during the month of June in his career. Should he end Sunday without one, his 12 for the month would be the third-most he's posted in a single month. He hit 15 in June of last year and 13 in June of 2021. In no other month of the year has Ohtani hit double-digit homers, and he's now done it three times in June. His second-highest monthly total for his career is May, where he's hit 34.

Each of Ohtani's three highest slugging & OPS months have come in June. He went for figures of .722 & 1.150 in each of those categories this month, trailing only 2023 & 2021, respectively, as his highest outputs in a single month. For his career, he's ISO'd .433 in the month of June. The next closest month is July, at .289. So as eye-popping as this month has been for him, it's hardly surprising.

One thing to maintain an eye on, though, is that Ohtani's contact rates & contact quality are each at their highest of his career to date. His HardHit% of roughly 60 and Contact% around 75 would each represent new career marks if the season ended today.

Which means it's highly possible that the pace set in June could maintain well into the summer's latter months. New monthly career highs for Shohei Ohtani not only seem like a possibility, but a likelihood at the rate he's going. June of 2024 could serve as a mere springboard for new heights.