Checking historic MLB stats usually leads to some amazing discoveries.
Now, if you want to have some fun, look for splits and who the hitters are that really dominate a specific month.
As June comes to an end, Codify Baseball checked monthly all-time hitting splits, and found a surprise.
Well, it shouldn’t be a surprise: Los Angeles Angels star Shohei Ohtani owns the highest slugging percentage in the history of the game in the month of June.
Highest career June slugging percentage in MLB history
(400+ June plate appearances):Shohei Ohtani, .764 🌞
Lou Gehrig, .739
Babe Ruth, .710
Larry Walker, .641
Ted Williams, .635 pic.twitter.com/3myWvdJwfq— Codify (@CodifyBaseball) June 30, 2023
His .764 (!) career slugging percentage in June is a tad better than that of two New York Yankees legends: Lou Gehrig (.739) and Babe Ruth (.710).
We are talking about two guys that helped change the way baseball was played with their enormous power.
Ohtani is right up there with them, at least when we account for June performance.
He is so talented that when all is said and done and he decides to retire, his place in baseball should be right up there with the two legends.
As far as raw talent, Ohtani might be in a tier of his own: no one in the history of MLB has ever put the kind of numbers he has as a pitcher and as a hitter in the same season.
Ruth did some pitching early in his career, but his two-way performance wasn’t even close to Ohtani’s in any specific season.
Ohtani has shown he is capable of leading a rotation, posting amazing ERAs, and striking out more than 200 batters while hitting 40 home runs the same year.
It’s insane.
He is already an all-time great and might go down as the greatest to ever play the game of baseball.
NEXT: Shohei Ohtani Is Again Matching Rare MLB History
