The Pitcher Just Hits Home Runs Well [EN]: Chapter 367

367. World Series (3)

Just twenty years ago, the best Dodgers pitcher was described as ‘reminiscent of Sandy Koufax.’ But then the Dodgers produced Clayton Kershaw, a pitcher comparable to Sandy Koufax in terms of immediate impact and, with his career stats, a surefire Hall of Famer, arguably the best pitcher of the 21st century. So now, the highest praise for a Dodgers pitcher is to be called ‘reminiscent of Clayton Kershaw.’

[Watching David Steele, I’m reminded a lot of Clayton Kershaw.]

[Yes, the deception too. The combination of a powerful fastball and slider is reminiscent of Kershaw. The main difference is that Kershaw added a curveball early in his career, while David Steele actively uses a circle changeup and splitter.]

Before I adjusted. When I first came to the major leagues, the most difficult thing to adjust to as a batter was the double-kick in a pitcher’s windup. Regulations regarding double-kicks vary slightly depending on the league, but MLB barely enforces it as long as it’s a continuous motion, while the Korean and Taiwanese leagues regulate it very strictly. NPB’s [Nippon Professional Baseball, Japan’s highest level of baseball] case is inconsistent; there were no regulations at all until the early 21st century, then suddenly they regulated more strictly than any other country, and now they’ve abolished the regulation again.

Anyway, it was difficult when I went to first base as a runner, but it was even more so when I stood at the plate as a batter. MLB pitchers, who were already fast, subtly manipulated the timing with the double-kick, which wasn’t easy to handle.

[Pitcher windup!!]

The raised leg seemed to pause for a moment before sweeping the ground and moving forward.

I didn’t care.

In the end, the ball comes out of the pitcher’s right hand. I won’t let my rhythm be dictated by the pitcher’s pitching motion. Why?

Because my bat speed is fast enough to overwhelm the opponent.

-Whoooo!!!

“Strike!!!”

[Ah, first pitch swinging strike!! Choi Soo-won’s bat spun around on a splitter that dropped sharply.]

[David Steele’s splitter also has an interesting backstory. He didn’t even throw a splitter three years ago. Moreover, the splitter itself isn’t a frequently used pitch in the big leagues. Apparently, he was interviewed and said that Shohei Ohtani taught it to him.]

[Ah, well. Japan is known for splitters. Shohei Ohtani also used splitters a lot early in his career.]

[Of course, Shohei Ohtani later said that he only told him the grip. He said that Steele’s natural talent was much better than his own, but anyway, the vertical movement of Steele’s fastball is almost the same as Kershaw’s used to be. That maximizes the effectiveness of his splitter.]

I felt something dropping in the middle of its path, so I tried to adjust my swing, but it didn’t work.

Oh, come to think of it, that guy had the best vertical movement on his fastball in the entire league. The average vertical movement is about 30 centimeters, while the league average is about 23 centimeters, meaning his comes in about 7 centimeters higher than the average ball. Adding a ball that drops like this on top of that is definitely tricky.

Yeah, it’s tricky, but…

-Clang!!!!

[Second pitch!! Well-hit ball!! Deep drive!! Left-center!! Left-center!!! Off the fence!!!!!!! Off the fence!!! It went over!! A home run ball landing in the visiting team’s bullpen!!]

[Choi Soo-won!! One out in the bottom of the first inning!! He pulled a 98.1 mph fastball and sent it over the wall. Wow, that’s incredible. The score is now 1-1 again. Choi Soo-won ties the game.]

[Personally, I think Choi Soo-won’s mind games worked well in this at-bat.]

[Mind games?]

[Yes, if you look at his swing at the first pitch, he showed a slight reaction to the splitter. So he’s not timing the fastball correctly. It’s like he’s signaling that to the pitcher. And if you look here, David Steele is quick with his timing. He brings his leg down and almost throws the ball immediately. If you’re waiting for a changeup, you’ll almost always be late.]

[Ah, I see. But Choi Soo-won was actually waiting for the fastball. Wow, the battle between the batter and the pitcher is quite intense, isn’t it?]

[Yes, David Steele is a very experienced pitcher in his 7th year in the major leagues, but our twenty-year-old Choi Soo-won is completely outsmarting him.]

Honestly, showing a breaking ball and then a high fastball was too obvious. Besides, it was clear from the beginning that he was rushing his pitching motion. In many ways, he couldn’t hide his inexperience.

Domingo in the dugout smiles brightly. The atmosphere of the stadium, which had quieted down a little after giving up the first run in the top of the first inning, was revived.

“How was it?”

“I think my body wasn’t fully warmed up because it was cold? I think it’ll loosen up if I swing a little more.”

“Okay.”

I had a brief conversation with Tyler and returned to the dugout.

He wasn’t the type to do everything well like Mookie Betts of the LA Dodgers, but Tyler was at least as capable as Mookie Betts at the plate. The guy fouled off three pitches.

-Whoong!!!

“Strike!! Out!!!”

And a swinging strikeout on the 6th pitch.

The guy who came back to the dugout said to me.

“He didn’t think about loosening up?”

“Would he loosen up if he hit a few foul balls? At least…”

-Clang!!!!

It wasn’t a ball that barely cleared the fence like my earlier hit into the opposing team’s bullpen. This was an overwhelming hit by a giant of 2 meters and 134 kg [approximately 6’7″ and 295 lbs], reaching the top of the outer field’s 4th floor.

[Home run!!! It’s a home run!! Two outs in the bottom of the first inning!! Aaron Judge’s solo home run!! The score is now 1-2!! The Yankees are now leading the Dodgers by one point.]

“It has to be *that* level. Are you saying that?”

“No, well, I didn’t necessarily expect it to be *that* level…”

Certainly, we didn’t have the feeling that we were scraping for runs like the Dodgers. Because there was no need to do that.

Anthony Volpe, Choi Soo-won, Tyler Niche, Aaron Judge, Mike Trout, Dennis Martinez, Austin Battle. And two others.

If you list the league’s wRC+ [weighted Runs Created Plus, a comprehensive hitting statistic] in order, there are three players who could be in the top 10, and two more who could be in the top 20. Besides, Anthony and Austin could easily be in the top 30.

Each and every one of them is a hitter who could hit a home run or a string of hits at any time. If there are one or two dangerous hitters, you can focus on them tightly. But what if the opponent has a lineup where there’s no place to avoid?

There’s a limit to a person’s concentration. In the past, when the NL [National League] didn’t have designated hitters, the league’s ERA [Earned Run Average] differed by 0.2 points depending on whether or not the 9th hitter was a liability. Yes, there was that much difference between having a weak hitter and not having one, even for just one of the nine hitters.

-Clang!!!

Mike Trout’s hit.

The Yankees lineup, once it starts to explode, cannot be stopped easily.

-Poong!!!

Dennis Martinez’s walk.

The pitcher started to falter.

“Look. I told you. I thought it would falter if I shook it up a little.”

“Hey, this isn’t just faltering, it’s uprooting and shaking them off.”

“I don’t know. It hasn’t been uprooted yet…”

-Whoong!!

“Strike!! Out!!!”

And Austin Battle’s swinging strikeout.

“I didn’t think it would be.”

Yes, the Yankees lineup, once it starts to explode, cannot be stopped ‘easily’. But the pitcher on the mound today was still far from mediocre.

3 hits, 2 home runs, 2 strikeouts, and 1 walk against seven batters in the bottom of the first inning. And 2 runs. David Steele walked off the mound.

“I’ll be back soon.”

Domingo Rodriguez is like Guan Yu [a famous general from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms] going to cut off Hwa Woong’s [another general] head. He headed to the mound with a determined spirit.

Well, David Steele was definitely a pitcher who was far from mediocre. But our Domingo, who is facing him, is also a pitcher who has far surpassed mediocrity.

Strikeout, hit.

And

-Clang!!!!

[Weakly hit ball!! Anthony Volpe easily catches it and throws to Dennis Martinez at 2nd base. Dennis Martinez!! Back to 1st base!!]

[Clean 6-4-3 double play!! Double play!! Domingo Rodriguez cleanly shuts down the Dodgers’ attack in the top of the second inning. The game continues with the Yankees’ attack in the bottom of the second inning.]

Our attack in the bottom of the second inning, starting with 8th hitter Angel.

Angel did not disappoint us. And Jose, who followed him to the plate, was the same.

“As expected, if you don’t expect anything, you won’t be disappointed.”

“Huh? What?”

“No, please continue until my turn. Fighting!!”

Consecutive strikeouts.

Anthony Volpe, who was waiting in the on-deck circle, walked to the plate. And I grabbed my bat and walked out to the empty on-deck circle. I had a feeling that I would just wait there and then return to the dugout, but anyway, I watched Anthony with a cheering heart.

-Whoong!!

“Strike!!”

[99.4 mph fastball!! David Steele gets ahead in the count with a fastball.]

[The speed has increased considerably compared to the top of the first inning. It seems like his body is warming up.]

[Yes, it’s cold, but David threw so many pitches in the first inning.]

The human brain originally remembers bad things more strongly than good things. Well, I heard that it evolved that way because it’s advantageous for survival. Actually, I heard it by chance, so I don’t know if it’s true.

Anyway, the reason why I’m saying this now is to emphasize that Anthony, who seems to be striking out or hitting ground balls every day, is actually a pretty good hitter with a slash line of 0.289/0.344/0.427 [batting average/on-base percentage/slugging percentage].

You can do it. Anthony!!

Fighting!!

-Clang!!!!

Was it because he heard my support?

Surprisingly, Anthony hit David’s second pitch.

[Weakly hit ball!! It rolls along the 3rd base foul line!!]

Anthony runs to 1st base without looking back as soon as he hits the ball.

-Poong!!

“Safe!!”

It was one of Anthony’s signature infield hits that he gets sometimes.

[Well, bottom of the 2nd inning. Two outs and a runner on 1st base. Choi Soo-won, who hit a home run in his previous at-bat, is up next. Choi Soo-won is up.]

[Ah, the LA Dodgers. Here, they choose to intentionally walk him.]

[Certainly. Once you’ve faced him, you can get a rough idea of his abilities. Here, they’d rather safely get through the inning against Tyler Niche. That’s their choice. But well… we’ll have to wait and see if this is a wise choice.]

I didn’t just go back to the dugout; I walked to first base without even swinging the bat I had brought with me.

And Tyler Niche came to the plate. But the way that guy is twitching his mouth looks like he’s holding back a laugh?

-Whoong!!

“Strike!!!”

-Whooooong!! “Strike!!”

Ah, that guy, that…

‘I think I was able to get the MVP [Most Valuable Player] in this championship series thanks to the fact that the monster guy on the team didn’t have a chance to swing his bat. I hope he doesn’t have to swing his bat in the World Series either.’

-Clang!!!!

The ball went over the fence.

Tyler Niche hits a three-run home run.

It was the third home run of the game today.