Tampa Bay Rays catcher Christian Bethancourt produced incredible results Tuesday night against the Los Angeles Angels.
Tampa Bay Rays catcher Christian Bethancourt was thrown in to close the night against the Los Angeles Angels on Tuesday, and his results were spectacular. He pitched a scoreless inning shortly after hitting a huge home run, and he “now knows what it feels like to be [Shohei] Ohtani.”
Bethancourt hit a homer to centerfield to kick off the seventh inning, which, overall, had six runs from the Rays. His bat was on fire the entire game. According to MLB.com, “He tied his career high with three RBIs, a feat he hadn’t accomplished in the Majors since Aug. 6, 2016.”
The 30-year-old catcher could certainly be compared to Ohtani in that moment.
Rays catcher Christian Bethancourt certainly played like Shohei Ohtani
Though the two aren’t usually comparable, Bethancourt had an outstanding night directly against Ohtani that deserves to be celebrated. Ohtani played Tuesday’s game as a designated hitter and produced one hit in three at-bats. He didn’t produce any runs or RBIs.
Bethancourt, on the other hand, produced one run, one homer and three RBIs in four at-bats. He’s currently having the best season of his career. He’s not hitting among the best players in MLB, but he’s hitting decent at .242/.283/.398 for an OPS of .681.
Ohtani is hitting extremely well at .265/.356/.514 for an OPS of .870. This is roughly average for him, but he’s an extremely popular name in the league because of his great ability to hit and pitch.
Bethancourt may not always play like Ohtani, but he got to experience the magic for the night with hopefully more potential to come.