Shohei Ohtani Unleashed

With the so-called Ohtani rules junked, the Angels’ “super freak” is dominating as a hitter and a pitcher. “There are things that he can do on a baseball field that other people can’t.”

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Seventy-two years after his death, Babe Ruth, again, is having a moment. So, too, are Ted Radcliffe, Harvey Haddix, Sudden Sam McDowell, Bullet Joe Rogan, Leon Day and many others. These baseball relics are rushing past like freeway signs while going 99 miles per hour — which is how fast Shohei Ohtani’s world-class fastball topped out in his seven-inning, 10-strikeout start in Houston on Tuesday. Or maybe 119 m.p.h. — the speed off the bat of Ohtani’s two-run double on April 12, which was the second-hardest hit ball in the majors this season. Both marks are elite in a spring of wonderful possibilities as this extraordinary, two-way throwback to flannel uniforms and sepia-toned images flourishes just as the Los Angeles Angels hoped he would when they signed him as a free agent from Japan before the 2018 season.