Shuhei Ohtani is off to a historic start in 2023

He has a 0.64 ERA, 0.82 WHIP, . 092 opponents batting average and . 115 opponents slugging percentage. He also has four homers, including 116.7 mph this week at Yankee Stadium, and a severely damaged hit rate over 50%.

Here are five stats for Otani to help put his greatness in context.

• As noted above, he has only allowed a . 92 opponent hitting average this year. This is the lowest in a pitcher’s first five games in a season since the mound was moved to its current distance in 1893, according to the Elias Sports Bureau (minimum 10 innings, to isolate traditional starters). The previous record was . 102, by David Cone in 1999.

• Just to delve deeper into this batting average, let’s go into counting stats. He allowed only eight hits, out of the 105 batters he faced. This is the fewest by a pitcher in the first five starts of the year since at least 1901 (minimum 20 innings).

• Of those eight hits, only two were used to gain extra bases – both doubles. He’s only allowed a . 115 slugging percentage for an opponent this year. And you guessed it: That’s the lowest in a player’s first five games in a season (since 1916 at least, at least 20 innings).

• This is not new. Ohtani has now allowed three or fewer hits in each of his last nine home runs dating back to last season. This is the second-longest such streak among traditional starters since 1893, behind only 2021’s Jacob Degrom (10), according to Elias.

• Ohtani now has 12 games with at least 10 strikeouts since the start of last season. This is the most in MLB in that period. Again, this guy also hits baseballs at over 118 miles per hour.