The Pitcher Just Hits Home Runs Well [EN]: Chapter 338

338. Two-Way Player (2)

Shohei Ohtani, whom I met at Anthony’s small party last time, was exactly as I’d imagined from internet articles and such.

The embodiment of baseball.

No, perhaps a seeker of baseball.

What kind of upbringing does it take to become someone like that?

Having already experienced the surreal event of regression, I even wondered, “Maybe…?” It wasn’t just about skill.

An almost unrealistic obsession with baseball.

It was an obsession that made me wonder if he’d been reincarnated with memories of being unable to play baseball due to some past misfortune.

35 years old.

An age when a baseball player is heading towards the twilight of their career.

A twenty-year-old who hasn’t experienced that might just brush it off, but I’ve already been there. I get into a routine, and sometimes I think, “Isn’t this enough?” At least I had the obsession with the unfulfilled dream of being MVP number one.

But Shohei Ohtani was already the best player of this era and a legend who marked a milestone in the league’s history. So how on earth can he maintain such a stoic life until now?

-Whoosh!!!

“Strike!!!”

Anthony’s bat swung through the air.

Today, the fastball is really extending well.

[Count 1-2!! Fourth!!]

The next ball.

A sweeper?

Yes, my prediction was correct.

It was a sweeper.

A ball that breaks sharply to the outside.

-Whoosh!!!

“Strike!! Out!!!!”

[Swinging strikeout!! Shohei Ohtani strikes out the leadoff hitter.]

[Shohei Ohtani. His pitches are quite good today. Anthony Volpe, the Yankees’ leadoff hitter, is a player with a very good eye, but he was completely fooled.]

[Now at the plate is the number two hitter, Choi Su-won. Our Choi Su-won is coming up.]

[Choi Su-won, who failed to win the Player of the Month award for the first time since his debut last month. But his consecutive game hit streak is still ongoing in real-time, right? A whopping 76 consecutive games!! Today, he’s challenging for his 77th consecutive game!!]

[Actually, it’s hard to say that Choi Su-won was in a slump even in July. Looking at his monthly stats, he recorded an OPS [On-Base Plus Slugging] of 1.026 with .390/.433/.593.]

[Some experts, seeing Choi Su-won’s OPS drop… Ah, well. It’s funny to say that an OPS of 1.026 has dropped, but it’s true that it has dropped since his best record in May was 1.200. Anyway, some people say that the drop means he’s fallen into the trap of the ‘consecutive game hit streak’.]

[Haha, well. I think it’s more likely that he’s just tired from running non-stop until August. After all, Choi Su-won is currently playing the physically most demanding position of ‘two-way player’. Moreover, he has pitched a whopping 107.2 innings so far. Since the number of games so far is 101, he’s pitching more than the required innings. In addition, the number of at-bats he has taken is 338, so he is also fulfilling the required at-bats. Yes, 107.2 innings and 338 at-bats. A 20-year-old two-way player who meets both the required innings and the required at-bats. I think Choi Su-won is clearly being ‘overworked’.]

[Overworked… You could see it that way. I can relate more to manager Jeff Clark. He’s recording such great stats that he can’t stop it. And the player himself probably has a strong desire to play more games.]

[But wouldn’t a good manager adjust that appropriately according to the player’s condition?]

[Yes, in that sense, Jeff Clark is probably one of the best managers in the league. It’s not for nothing that he has four rings with three teams. Ah, the pitcher is winding up as we speak.]

Fastball.

I swung the bat boldly. There are many studies that say it’s more advantageous to watch the first pitch, but sometimes it’s good to swing boldly at the first pitch like this…

Damn it!!

It’s a sweeper. I hurriedly stopped the bat…

-Thwack!!!!

…stopped it.

0.1 seconds of silence.

The catcher jumped up from his seat and checked with the first base umpire whether it was a swing or not.

“Strike!!!!”

Damn.

[Ah, it’s a half-swing call. The replay is coming up now. Uh… this is a bit ambiguous.]

[Well, well. The bat head doesn’t seem to have gone out, and the wrist hasn’t turned completely. It looks like a check swing to me. Ah, that’s too bad.]

Ball count 0-1.

It felt like I had a bit of a feel for it when I was in the on-deck circle, but it’s still difficult. Above all, Shohei Ohtani on the mound looked different from what he showed in the All-Star Game.

If the feeling of him being a friendly older brother who is good at neighborhood baseball in private is 1, and the image he showed in the All-Star Game is 5, then today is 10. No, maybe more than that.

I calmly went through my routine and waited for the second pitch.

I inhaled and held my breath. Extreme concentration. Shohei Ohtani’s body moves. It wasn’t a very tricky deception. It was a stance that clearly showed his intention to increase the power of his pitch rather than hiding it to gain an advantage.

That’s just like Ohtani.

My form was also quite upright to minimize the risk of injury, but Ohtani’s form is about half a step more upright than that.

The ball flew.

The expected trajectory is a low inside course slightly towards the middle.

Will it be a sweeper? The feeling itself was almost identical to the sweeper he showed earlier.

I moved the bat.

But the amount of conviction in this swing was slightly smaller than before.

Was that why?

The timing I felt wasn’t much different from before.

-Thwack!!!!

Again, a moment of silence.

Again, the catcher gets up from his seat and asks the first base umpire if it was a swing.

[Ah, check swing!! It’s a check swing!! Choi Su-won!! He held back well.]

[Choi Su-won. He held back on the sinker that came in deep on his body.]

[The sweeper we saw earlier and the sinker he threw this time are the two pitches that make up almost 70% of Ohtani’s pitching repertoire [the variety of pitches a pitcher can throw]. According to on-site evaluations, the trajectories are very similar up to the tunneling zone, so they say it’s a really tricky pitch.]

This time, it wasn’t just luck.

It was purely skill.

I carefully breathed and got back into position.

Shohei Ohtani on the mound also lightly touched the rosin bag [a small bag containing powdered rosin used by pitchers to improve their grip] and stood back in his place.

11 seconds.

Shohei Ohtani, who was touching the ball in his glove with his right hand, moved.

An ambiguously high course.

It wasn’t difficult because I was full of doubt.

-Thwack!!!

It’s a splitter.

The umpire’s hand didn’t go up.

There was no change in expression on Shohei Ohtani’s face on the mound. But his inner thoughts would be different. Even though he threw a splitter, which could be considered a finishing pitch, the count didn’t become more advantageous, but rather more disadvantageous at 2-1.

Fourth.

Another ball went out of the zone.

3-1.

Now, if one more ball goes out of the zone, I’ll walk.

In this situation, many pitchers worry. Of course, considering my batting average, it’s right to give me a tricky ball as usual. But considering my current consecutive game hit streak, I can’t just do that. It may feel a bit old-fashioned, but after all, this is a world where there is an age-old rule that you don’t intentionally interfere with records.

What will Shohei Ohtani’s choice be?

Fifth.

A low ball.

I moved the bat.

Just as pitchers can’t just give me a walk because they’re conscious of my consecutive game hit streak, I can’t just let an ambiguous ball go by thinking about my consecutive game hit streak.

-Clang!!!!

A low course.

Another sinker digging inside.

My bat followed that movement. The timing wasn’t made far in front. A pushed hit. But it had enough power. Between first and second base. The batted ball flew quickly towards the area close to second base.

[He hit it!! Choi Su-won, a strong hit!!]

[But right in front of second baseman Miguel Thompson!! Miguel Thompson catches the ball and throws it to first.]

“Out!!”

[Ah… A disappointing ground ball out. Shohei Ohtani breathes a sigh of relief.]

[It was a pretty well-hit ball, but the location was a bit unfortunate.]

[That’s right. It’s a shame, but the 77-game consecutive hit streak will have to be postponed to the next at-bat for now.]

“How is he?”

“He seems to be in top condition. He’s even better than the briefing I heard before the game.”

“Anything to watch out for?”

“I heard he sealed the splitter because of the risk of injury, but he threw one today too.”

“That must be because the opponent is you, Su-won. Okay, got it.”

I exchanged a few words with Tyler Beet, who was waiting in the on-deck circle.

Perhaps because he thinks he might lose the number three hitter spot to Mike Trout or Dennis Martinez, who joined the team this time, he seems to be putting in even more effort lately.

-Whoosh!!!!

“Strike!! Out!!!”

[The 4th pitch!! Shohei Ohtani’s splitter draws Tyler Beet’s bat. Swinging strikeout!!]

[Shohei Ohtani has clearly reduced the rate of using the splitter because it puts a strain on his elbow. But he’s already thrown two in today’s game. He seems to be really determined. If this happens, the Yankees hitters will have no choice but to keep the splitter in mind, right?]

[In fact, Shohei Ohtani has evolved to this point by changing his style in various ways, but the finishing pitch that allowed Shohei Ohtani to adapt to the league in the early days was this splitter. If you’re a fan who has been watching Shohei Ohtani since the beginning, you can’t help but be happy to see this pitch.]

Bottom of the 1st, 0:0.

Switching sides.

Gerrit Cole went back to the mound.

If I had to pick the guy who has gained the most strength since this trade, it would be Gerrit Cole. Well, it’s definitely the timing when he’s desperate to add a championship ring to his career. Ah, maybe the reason Mike didn’t refuse to come to our team was because of that, a thought briefly crossed my mind.

Shohei Ohtani, who had shown great pitching on the mound until just now, came to the plate. A man whose habit of picking up trash as a good deed to fulfill the luck needed for a home run has become a meme [an element of culture passed from one individual to another by imitation or other non-genetic means].

But this year, he hasn’t had enough time to pick up trash, so he only has 23 home runs so far. Ah, of course, Alex’s 40 home runs, which is currently the number one record in both leagues, is such an outstanding record that it looks relatively small, but 23 home runs is the 7th highest record in the National League home run rankings.

Gerrit Cole confidently threw the ball.

-Thwack!!!

“Strike!!!”

A 96.4 mph fastball.

It was a pitch that clearly showed that he was in a good mood.

Second.

-Clang!!!!

Ohtani hit that ball. It looked like he pulled it properly. But it seemed like Gerrit Cole was the one having the most fun in this stadium today. The batted ball stretched out. It didn’t fall easily, but it was slightly lacking. Moreover, the direction of the batted ball was towards the center of the outfield wall, not the left field wall.

Center fielder Mike Trout moved at the same time as the hit.

Mike Trout was once criticized for his poor judgment of batted balls, saying that he was defending with his fast feet. But he proved that he could overcome even that with training.

“Out!!!”

A clean fly ball out.

The game continued.

And the two starting pitchers for the Dodgers and Yankees perfectly shut out the opposing team’s hitters without allowing any runners on base for three innings.