Notes: MLB players on Ohtani; new stadium in Ontario
09/19/2024 09:31 AM
Shohei Ohtani has wowed in his first season with the Dodgers, proving to be a dynamic force even while only hitting, and running.
After hitting his 48th home run on Tuesday, Ohtani told reporters in Miami that he wasn't adding any extra pressure on reaching the first 50-50 season in MLB history.
"No pressure," Ohtani said, per Alden Gonzalez at ESPN. "Just trying to maintain quality at-bats regardless of the situation. It's something I've been trying to do over the course of the entire season."
Other major leaguers past and present are in awe of what Ohtani is doing. Several of them talked to Tyler Kepner at The Athletic, who added this note to put Ohtani's unprecedented power/speed season in perspective:
Just two players in MLB history have hit 50 homers and stolen 50 bases in any season, let alone the same one. One is Barry Bonds, who swiped 52 bases for Pittsburgh in 1990 and clubbed a record 73 homers for San Francisco in 2001. The other is Brady Anderson, who had 53 steals in 1992 and 50 home runs four years later, both for Baltimore.
Bill Shaikin earlier this week at the Los Angeles Times wrote about various California minor league ballparks, and within reported that Ontario city officials said the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes, the Dodgers' Low-A affiliate, agreed to move to a planned new ballpark in Ontario for the 2026 season.
From Shaikin:
Alan Wapner hardly could contain his excitement. For almost three decades, the Ontario city councilman has pursued a minor league baseball team for his city. Now Ontario is on the verge of landing one — and not just any minor league team, but one affiliated with the Dodgers.
The scoreboards in Ontario, he said, are planned as hexagons — just like the ones at Dodger Stadium.
"We're half-jokingly talking about a Union 76 ball out there," Wapner said.
Josue De Paula hit .268/.404/.405 with a 131 wRC+ in 107 games between Low-A Rancho Cucamonga and High-A Great Lakes. Having turned just 19 years old in June, he was more than three years younger than the average Midwest League hitter this season. Gerald Gilberto at MLB.com profiled the highly-touted Dodgers outfield prospect.
The Los Angeles Times obtained a witness video of Julio Urías' domestic battery case from September 2023, after which the pitcher was placed on administrative leave by Major League Baseball to end that season before reaching free agency.
MLB still hasn't completed its investigation into Urías, though Bill Shaikin at The Times got a statement from the league saying, "MLB is continuing to gather all the relevant evidence in our investigation."
