With Shohei Ohtani crushing his 30th home run of the season on July 1st, one stat stands out and shows why Ohtani is one of the best.

Gonzalez was told by Dodgers pitching coach Mark Prior that the club's original plan was to have Ohtani pitch in simulated games until he could reach the 60-to-70-pitch range before putting him into a regular-season contest. According to Gonzalez, Ohtani threw 44 pitches in his most recent simulated game before Monday's start.