Shohei Ohtani

[legitimatebeef]

Listen, like you I've been out of baseball fandom for a long time. Nevertheless like many others I am awestruck at what this guy is doing.

For all you Bkuehn types who have literally been living under a rock here is the long and short of it. Shohei Ohtani is a young pitcher-slash-designated hitter from Japan who signed with California LA Angels over the offseason. After a disappointing spring training, now in the regular season he is winning games with 100mph strikeouts, and also blasting long home runs way over the fence.

This is remarkable because a player like this has never happened in the modern history of baseball.

Enjoy it while it lasts, is what I say. Before the eventual arm blowout and, optimistically, demotion to a more conventional role/position.

[srogers13]

Another amazing thing is that if he waited another year or two to come to America, he would have been able to command MILLION$ more dollars. But because of his age and the rules, he is not making much more than minimum. But he decided he wanted to come over anyways.

[DougE]

Babe Ruth is the last guy that I can remember who pitched and hit home runs with regularity. This new guy is certainly interesting. I'll have to pay closer attention to his career.

[legitimatebeef]

Cooled off a bit, but tonight the Angels are on ESPN. Ohtani didn't start but I tuned in in time to see him pinch hit and blast a huge home run to center. Great swing. But his arm is already blown out. I suspect he will end up as a position player or DH.

[DougE]

I miss baseball. Since I moved to Maryland, I can no longer get the Mets on TV daily. Instead I get the Nationals, the enemies of the Mets. No interest in watching them. As a result I have lost contact with the baseball world over the last few years. I don't know any of the new players, or who has been traded, who is going to be a free agent, etc. I used to be a die-hard baseball fan, as was my mom. Today, at nearly 90 years young, she lives in Florida and listens to virtually every Met game on SiriusXM radio. She's a REAL die-hard fan.

I played the game from Little League through high-school (P, SS, 3B) and have been a Met fan since day one in 1962. I was a Dodger fan prior, as my mom grew up a Brooklyn Dodger fan and kind of passed it down to me. I was torn when I went to the old Polo Grounds (before Shea Stadium) to see the Mets play the Dodgers in a Sunday doubleheader for my first major league ballgame(s). I was a new Met fan and a lifelong (7 years old) Dodger fan. I didn't know who to root for. To this day, I can still name the Dodgers 1962 starting line up off the top of my head. Yankees too, which included Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris, batting 3rd and 4th. But I hated the Yankees.

Baseball is a great game. Better than most other team sports in my opinion. I love the strategy on every single pitch. Not just by the pitcher and catcher, but the movement and positioning of every player on the field for each pitch. Non-baseball fans have no idea how strategic the game is. It's just a guy throwing a ball and another guy from the other team trying to hit it. Without understanding the depth, I can understand how some might think it's boring. Just like golf, the more you understand about the golf swing, flight control, spin, topography, course management, etc., the more interesting watching a tournament can be. I suppose you can say that about many sports.

One of these days I'll have to tune into an Angels game on ESPN to see this Ohtani guy. Maybe it will spark some new interest.

[srogers13]

You ought to check to see if you can get MLB Extra Innings through your cable provider and/or look at ESPN+ since they are showing a crapload of MLB games not being shown nationally. Of course, you would think you torture yourself enough playing golf. You must really be a masochist wanting to watch the Mets, too.