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Japanese baseball pitcher Shohei Ohtani has probably received one of the best compliments of his fledgling professional career when Boston Red Sox pitcher Matt Barnes rated him as ‘incredibly talented’ and a ‘special player’.

Down to their last out, Shohei Ohtani comes through in the clutch for the @Angels. pic.twitter.com/kwsZj1Xim4

— MLB (@MLB) May 16, 2021

“He’s the most physically gifted baseball player that we’ve ever seen,” Barnes said after Ohtani launched Barnes over the middle-in heater more than 370 feet to right field for the game-winning homer in Sunday’s Major League Baseball (MLB) game.

“I don’t know that you’re ever going to see someone who can throw 100 mph and hit the ball 600 feet. He’s a special player and incredibly talented. Hopefully, he stays healthy and has a long career,” Barned told the media after the match.

Nicknamed ‘Sho Time’, Ohtani helped Los Angeles Angels come from behind to beat the Boston Red Sox 6-5 and snap a four-game losing skid for the Angels.

“Coming off a losing streak from the first two games of the series, the way we lost, it wasn’t a good way to lose,” Ohtani said. “So, it was huge for us and the team to come up with this. We showed that we can beat any team,” said Ohtani, who won the 2018 American League Rookie of the Year Award.

Ohtani also holds the record for the fastest pitch by a Japanese pitcher in the Nippon Professional Baseball’s (NPB) history at 165 kilometres per hour (102.5 mph).