Why Shohei Ohtani could be in store for his best July yet
Why Shohei Ohtani could be in store for his best July yet
Shohei Ohtani had an excellent month of June.
He hit .293, reached base at a .413 clip, and slugged to the tune of a .404 ISO. He hit a dozen homers and checked in at a 202 wRC+. Specifically in the power game, only Anthony Santander hit more homers and only Aaron Judge posted a higher ISO. It was elite by any metric.
Not that that should come as any surprise. June has long represented Ohtani's best month in a given year, wherein he's hit 55 of his career homers and reached base at a .421 rate. So in a year where he's making more contact and hitting the ball harder, there's nothing surprising about the month he's just completed.
What June of 2024 could provide, though, is hope for the best July we've seen from Shohei Ohtani to date. Because while June has been his peak, July has been the valley in a number of ways for Ohtani.
His .249 average in July is his lowest in a given month. His July OBP is 60 points lower than in June (.361). He's hit 24 fewer home runs in July than in June. Even further, his overall slugging percentage sits over 200 points lower in the latter of the two months (.538).
However, there's some additional context this year. The aforementioned contact trends, for one. His 75.6 Contact% is the highest of his career, as is his 59.9 HardHit%. So not only more contact, but better contact across the board. That, in itself, is reason to think that Ohtani could turn in a strong July.
There's also a health factor here. Ohtani only has 110 plate appearances in July. September represents the only month where he has fewer (104). As a DH only this year, Ohtani has appeared in 82 of 85 games. By sheer volume alone could Ohtani seek to turn in his best individual July to date.
As of now, Ohtani's best July came last year. He hit .282, OBP'd .447, and slugged .705. His OPS that month came in at 1.152. Given the trends we're seeing this year, though, it's not difficult to imagine something greater in July of 2024.