Shohei Ohtani—Japan's Babe Ruth—is about to change the face of baseball

SI ^ | April 6, 2017 | Jon Wertheim

[C19fan]

It is an early March afternoon, hours before a Japan League exhibition game, and Shohei Ohtani can't find a catcher. So he takes a cart of balls to the outfield, paces off 60 feet and begins throwing into the padded wall. It is baseball’s equivalent of an omakase menu: Ohtani grips baseballs with his right hand, goes into his windup and torques his 6' 4", 215-pound frame, much of it muscle. Extending his right arm, he manipulates the balls through the air in precise flight paths that seemingly defy the laws of physics. Mostly, though, he sends them whistling through the air, popping into the wall so that a sound like gunfire echoes through the empty Sapporo Dome.

[burghguy]

Yeah his name was Rick Ankiel. The kid had it all - - smoking fastball and great bat. He did play in the outfield after coming back from Steve Blass disease but one wonders what could have been.

[rlmorel]

Exactly!

[rlmorel]

Yes, they most certainly are!

[Jeff Chandler]

That would be an interesting approach to managing a game.

Of course it's predicated upon his being a decent fielder. Unless his glove really stinks he could at least cover right field and come to bat all game long, then hurl that 100+ fastball in the last inning when needed.

[Chad N. Freud]

“Extending his right arm, he manipulates the balls through the air . . . “

This is epic, prize-winning crappy writing.

Try to envision exactly what the author is saying.

I’ll give you a few moments. Consider all possible variations.

As a description of a pitch, it is mind-bogglingly imprecise. One would suppose when he extends his right arm to be more or less relevant to a sports writer, his editor, and the handful of still-interested readers of said sports writer.

Sports Illustrated pays their writers money, do they? And their editors?

[Chad N. Freud]

P.S.:

Other pitchers must be sorely envious if the balls they throw do not follow “precise flight paths.”