2024 Home Run Count: 23

Shohei Ohtani hasn't been quite as hot as last June—when he hit triple-slashed .394/.492/.952 with 15 home runs in 27 games while beginning to run away with his second MVP trophy—but he has been on an outrageous heater this month all the same.

Not only did he recently have a surge of six home runs in seven days, but four of those six dingers traveled more than 450 feet, including the 476-foot moonshot in Colorado last Tuesday that ranks as the longest any player has hit thus far this season.

All nine of his home runs in June have gone at least 400 feet.

Per Codify, he's the only player in the Statcast era (2015-present) with multiple 450+ foot home runs at Dodger Stadium. He has hit four that distance this season alone, including two on back-to-back days this past weekend against his former team.

Suffice it to say, he has recovered from that hamstring bruise that hampered him for a short while in May.

Now, how do we convince Major League Baseball's biggest star to compete in another Home Run Derby?

Ohtani did the derby in 2021 and it was, of course, a spectacle. He got eliminated in the first round by Juan Soto, but only after multiple tie-breaker sessions.

Unfortunately, he was nowhere near the same hitter in the second half of that season. Ohtani went from slugging .698 before the 2021 All-Star break to just .458 after it. So, if the $700 million man decides once again not to partake in this mashing exhibition, it'd be hard to blame him.

It'd be a whole lot more fun if he did it, though, especially after he hit five home runs in seven games at Globe Life Field in 2023.