Shohei Ohtani is used to recording stats that baseball has never seen before.
One of the wildest stats the two-way superstar has, though, is about the batter he's faced when throwing his hardest heat. Ohtani threw the fastest pitch of his MLB career, a 101.7-mph four-seam fastball, to Royals first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino in June. He threw an even harder pitch in the 2023 World Baseball Classic, which hit 102-mph, for the fastest pitch in his career.
Incredibly, Pasquantino was on the receiving end of Ohtani's 102-mph heater too, and he's starting to think Ohtani may have a problem with him. He had a hilarious response to the stat back in June, and he recently got to question the superstar as he served as an MLB players ambassador at World Series media day.
"World Baseball Classic, we faced each other. And with Kansas City this year, why do you throw so hard to me?" Pasquantino simply asked. "Why? Why do you hate me?"
Ohtani responded that Pasquantino is a really good hitter, so he has to. He's right, as the Royals slugger led his team with 32 home runs and 113 RBIs this year. That wasn't a good enough answer for Pasquantino though, as he responded, "You throw too hard, Shohei."
Check out the hilarious moment below:
The two fastest pitches Shohei Ohtani has ever thrown were both to Vinnie Pasquantino ... two years apart.
— MLB (@MLB) October 23, 2025
Naturally, Vinnie had to find out why. pic.twitter.com/EUyTvtw8OW
Ohtani and the Dodgers are headed to the World Series after an all-time performance from the superstar where he hit three homers and threw six scoreless innings while striking out 10 batters in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series to close out the Brewers. He hit 55 homers in the regular season, behind only Cal Raleigh (60) and Kyle Schwarber (56).
On the mound, Ohtani had a 2.87 ERA in 14 starts and 47 innings pitched with 62 strikeouts in his return to pitching this year. He's won both of his postseason starts thus far, punching out 19 in 12 innings. He has five playoff homers this year, too, the most outside of Blue Jays star Vladimir Guerrero Jr. with six.
Ohtani is doing things never seen before. Hopefully he has it in his heart to take it a bit easier on Pasquantino next season.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Vinnie Pasquantino Jokingly Pressed Shohei Ohtani on Wild Fastest Pitch Stat.