Thanks for watching, we hope you enjoyed! Please like, share & subscribe to support the channel. Other ways to support the channel: Donate to the channel via PayPal (PayPal account not needed) - www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=BZRANMGGL9Q9Q Join our Discord, meet the community, submit requests, be included in channel and content polls - discord.gg/cAkQwUuPN8 Find Great Baseball Products on Amazon - Our Affiliate Links are - amzn.to/3Mcl9G0 (Shirts) or amzn.to/3MdkYdB (Balls)
The only thing you need to know about Shohei Ohtani is that ten years ago people would have said that he is an impossibility. To be an elite hitter, while also being an ace pitcher, is absolutely absurd. He is a video game create a character.
It is also important to note that while Babe Ruth was an amazing pitcher and an amazing hitter, he has substantially worse when he tried to do both at the same time. He was only a two-way player for a short period of time and he ditched it soon after because it was dragging him down.
I'd like to add that people were talking about the impossibility of his situation even in his first and second years in the league when he was right in front of us. Most of the discourse was about when, rather than if, he was going to convert to a full time pitcher or batter as it was just not viable to do both at a high level (and his injuries in his first couple years lended credence to this). He shut that down the impossibility question real quick with his MVP season It's easier to look back and say oh yeah of course he's doing this, but even just before his MVP season I thought he'd cap out at just being decent at one and elite at the other. But the fact that he is elite at both, like top 5-10 hitter and pitcher is just absurd and something i never thought possible until it happened.
@Spman2099 no that is total BS. In 1919, the only year he was a full time pitcher and full time outfielder, he led the major leagues in home runs with 29. Ruth was a freak of nature that literally nobody in any American sport can be compared to.
@@cinnaminson0653 It's not total BS, he's right. Ruth only had a single year where he both regularly hit and pitched, 1919 like you said. He was a phenomenal hitter, but pitching wise he doesn't come remotely close to Ohtani. He only started 15 games that year and was a league average pitcher (102 ERA+)
@@cinnaminson0653 Don't get me wrong, Babe Ruth is a legend. He was an incredible pitcher and an incredible hitter. However, he spoke publicly about why he stopped being a two-way player, and he himself felt like it was taking too heavy of a toll on him and that he couldn't keep doing both (and he chose hitting because it was what got the big reactions from the fans). It isn't a coincidence that his very worst season as a pitcher just happened to be during his (brief) time as a two-way player. Now, to be clear, Ruth's final season pitching wasn't a disaster, but he was reduced to being a league average pitcher. He is a legend, but he wasn't able to do what Ohtani is doing.
To put this back-to-back performance into a football/soccer context, it'd be like a player scoring three goals one game, and in the next, he plays goalie, and shuts down the opponent with a clean sheet.
@@willwala8762 You can certainly make that argument. Because he isn't just an elite pitcher and hitter on stats at the same time. He is also measurably one of the most physical impressive. He is 6'5" and weighs well over 200lbs. So he is big but runs very well. He has one of the fastest fastballs in the world (threw one 102 just the other day). He hits some of the furthest and fastest homeruns of anyone he hit one nearly 120mph last year and has hit several over 450ft. But he also has elite speed. He has been clocked at 30ft per second. The only players faster than him are guys who specialize in speed and almost none of them have his power and none are pitchers. In the season before last, he stole 22 bases...the league leaders in stolen bases are usually somewhere between 30-50. But those guys are almost all lead off players who get more at bats by a large margin in the season than Shohei and stealing bases is one of their main skills and most are not power hitters. There has never been anyone like him. Ohtani is essentially the baseball version of taking Steph Curry and Lebron James and forming one player in basketball.
@@willwala8762 it's more like nobody else can do that. It's basically impossible to hit well and also pitch well in baseball. The sport is well over 200 years old and the only other player who was one of the best pitchers in the game as well as one of the best hitters in the game was Babe fucking Ruth and not even Babe Ruth did both at the same time successfully.
Arguably the single most skilled player of all time. I personally don't even think it's arguable though. I honestly think he could play any single position at an elite level. Like put him out at shortstop or catcher and just watch him crush that too lol.
The cowboy hat, that is worn by a player after hitting a home run, is tribute to the Angels founder and first owner Gene Autry, who was a cowboy actor/singer. While he was owner, the phrase was “win one for the Cowboy”. A sticker is added to the hat for every home run.
Mr. Autry was referred to as " The Singin Cowboy ". Was a very decent man and most of this country rooted for his beloved Angels to win a pennant but unfortunately they never did until after his death. They won the American league pennant and the world series pennant in 2002....Mr Autry passed in 1998 though
My hatred for the Angels grew 10x tho because they’re pulling him for the semis and finals. The first two rounds of the WBC are gonna end up being more entertaining than the last two because of it. We need Shohei vs. Trout and they took that from us. How dare they
@@sacrilegiousboi He is, no idea what that guy is talking about. He's been in Miami practicing. Only news was that he would only potentially pitch in the final game, but that was known when Japan started him in the quarterfinals.
@@raskbell yup, @Bryan has no idea what he’s talking about. Ohtani is still batting both in the Semis and Final. Ohtani isn’t starting in either, but that’s because to do so he’d have to start on short rest. He started the quarter final on Thursday, March 16th. With the 5 days off he takes between starts, he wouldn’t start again until Wed., March 22nd, which is the day after the Final. He’s not going to start a game on short rest, this early in the year. Despite this, yesterday he did say that he will be available to pitch in relief (likely as closer) in the Final should the opportunity arise. This is fine because it will be like a bullpen, rather than full start, before his next scheduled start (for the Angels) on Friday the 24th.
@@SomeGuys31415 lol I have since learned all of this. I was under the impression they were pulling him fully so he could be back at camp to ramp up for his Spring Training start.
“Generational talent” truly applies here. Plus he’s just a great guy with so much respect for the game. I firmly believe that if you love baseball, you love Shohei!
4:10 was not so much intentional but a positive outcome that you'll take in that situation. It's called a sacrifice fly because the batter was put out by the catch but the runner was able to advance after the catch was made. More intentional sacrifices are sacrifice bunts were they just bump the ball a few feet forward in the infield grass to a place where the fielders can come in to get the hitter out but not with enough time to get a runner on base out. The best hitters DEFINITELY know when they got a hold of one. There's some great home run highlight videos out there where they just stand there and watch it go or do a huge bat flip to celebrate (or both). And they DO stick him out in left field sometimes and he's a pretty above-average fielder to boot. Usually though he's just the designated hitter when he's not pitching.
Although sometimes the wind's blowing in stronger than the hitter thinks, so they stand around admiring it for a bit and then suddenly realize they better start running...
This is a style of play he developed in Japan. When he played in Japan for the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters for the Nippon Professional Baseball league he was on the roster list as their Ace (#1 pitcher in the Bullpen) Outfielder and Designated Hitter.
Ohtani explained in football/soccer terms: imagine if every 5 matches or so Mbappe played goalie and was legitimately the best goalie in the world when he did. While still scoring 40 plus goals a season. That’s what Ohtani is doing as we speak. We haven’t seen this in baseball in well over 100 years. Last person was literally Babe Ruth himself.
The sensation in your hands/arms when you’ve really connected on a pitch is truly one of the best feelings in the world. And yes, you can almost always tell when one is going out of the park, by both sound & feel.
More accurately, the lack of sensation. Only had one of those in my baseball life, and theres nothing like it. Cant even feel the ball connect but the sound is immaculate. Still remember it 5 or so years later.
Yep! Best feeling in the world, and you really don’t even feel it, you just know. You can find a similar feeling if you play golf. Flushing a golf shot is a similar feeling, although not the same.
That crack of the bat is one the most exciting sounds. I agree, to feel it is incredible; that marriage of both a great swing and perfect contact is something amazing. I imagine the the only thing that would probably come close is the perfect tennis serve, or golf tee off
I know it's difficult for you guys to evaluate and appreciate the greatness of Shohei Ohtani, since the sport of baseball is something virtually unknown to you. Keep in mind that Ohtani is doing something no other professional baseball player has done, including Babe Ruth--to be an elite pitcher and elite hitter in the sport. He's done it at this level for two seasons now, despite the workload that other players regard as superhuman--the mental and physical strain of performing in two very different aspects of the sport. And his ascendance into stardom also enlivened the sport in the US and internationally after a long period of declining interest among sports fans in the US. So he's transcended the sport and become an international phenomenon with athletes in other sports also following him because of how unique and gifted he is. We just have to hope that he stays healthy now, because he's already shown that he can be even better than he's been in a previous season, and he's already carved out a place that is unmatched in the history of baseball.
Thank you SurfWriter, great read through this. No question Ohtani sounds incredible, and on first viewing it’s clear to see how good he is both pitching and hitting. Looking forward to the new season and seeing more of Ohtani.
It is fairly common when a batter just smashes a deep home run that they don't immediately start running because they know it's a home run. When you're watching games on TV enough you pick up on clues to where the ball is going like the sound of the bat, how the ball comes off the bat, and what the batter does afterwards. When you hear that crack and you see the batter pause to look at it, that's one of the situations where you know it's deep into the outfield stands.
It's hard to put into words how impressive this really is. Nobody even TRIES to do what Shohei does by both hitting and pitching regularly, but he does both at an elite level. It really is similar to Bo Jackson and Deion Sanders being elite at two different sports at the same time, but to the extent that he likely is one of the top 10 in the world at both at the same time.
In the American League (where the Angels are) and, starting this season, in the National League (so ALL teams now), there is a rule called the Designated Hitter, whereby the pitchers do not hit. Instead each team has one player who bats in place of the pitcher and doesn't play defense. But Ohtani is so good he is also the DH in the games he pitches.
When a player hits the ball in the sweet spot of the bat, they barely feel the impact. You hear the sound, see the rise of the ball, and you just know. It's a sweet feeling.
Shohei is without a doubt the greatest baseball player to ever live. Nobody has ever come anywhere close to doing what he is able to do on the baseball field. To be one of the top hitters and pitchers at the same time is literally unheard of. Babe Ruth did start out as a pitcher and did play for a bit as a two-way player like Ohtani, but Ruth was only a pitcher at the beginning of his career, once he became a Yankee is stopped pitching and played as an outfielder exclusively after that. Ohtani was like if Patrick Mahomes was also one of the best linebackers in the NFL while still being as good as he is at QB
All-time hitting great Babe Ruth was also a extremely good pitcher in the early part of his career (about one hundred ago) before becoming the league's most dominant hitter. . . and hot dog eating champ! 😜
He’s the most impressive baseball I’ve ever seen and I been watching since the early 90’s… he’s an elite hitter and pitcher, the first since Babe Ruth!
It would have been enough if he was starter-quality at hitting and pitching but he’s elite at both. He and Angels teammate Mike Trout are two of the top 5 players in the league yet the Angels have yet to make the playoffs with them both. Just goes to show how much of a team game baseball is. If Japan can manage to beat Mexico in the World Baseball Classic semifinal we could possibly (though unlikely) see Ohtani pitch to Trout which to me would be the greatest thing ever.
Update April 26 2023. He’s leading his team with 6 home runs . In pitching five games he has a 0.64 era ( he allowing less than one earned run a game). he’s allowed just an .092 opponent batting average this year. That’s the lowest in a pitcher’s first five starts in a season since the mound was moved to its current distance in 1893.
Shohei Ohtani is the most talented baseball player to ever live and if anyone says differently they’re wrong. No one else has every provided as much value to a baseball team, even his teammate Mike Trout who is arguably the greatest MLB player of all time. They always try to compare him to Babe Ruth but Babe Ruth would think Shohei Ohtani was a sorcerer
@@chasejackson7248 Depends on how you’re measuring it. I’m measuring it based on the fact that no one has ever done what he’s doing, not even Babe Ruth
3:47 Great observations; love to see the baseball I Q increasing with both of you. The best part about watching your videos is when you comment about something that seems odd or peculiar that someone new to the game picks up on. This is what’s called a sacrificial fly ball or a “sac fly” for short. With a sca fly, the goal is to hit the ball intentionally deep even if it means the outfield will catch it. This then gives the players on base time to “tag up” and advance to the next base before the ball is thrown back to the infield. It can only be done when there is 0 or 1 outs and runners are on base. It basically trades an out for an advance on base.
On the question if you know when you hit a homer, yes you can typically both do to the feel off the bat and the angle of the ball. Listen to hitters talk about hitting home runs and they will talk about a certain vibration in the bat when the ball impacts. They have hit enough weak contact and flairs to know when something clicked right more often than not. The commentary crew can usually guess depending on the angle like we viewers do
I grew up playin baseball till i was 16. I batted in the 4 spot which is usually called batting clean-up. In hindsight, the 1st 3 batters get on base...then the batter in the 4 spot (usually the strongest or most consistent batter), hits to get the base-runners home thus, cleaning up the bases. When you get to the batting cages you will realize there is a spot on the bat called a 'sweet-spot'. It's that connection with the bat and ball where you immediately feel a kind of electricity. Like, you just know that swing and connection are perfect. When Ohtani hit that blast...he knew it was in orbit.
I would say hitting the sweet spot feels like you've hit the ball purely. If you ever played golf, it's a similar feeling. You can hit the ball all over the bat/club and still get decent results. But when you hit that sweet spot it feels so pure and is what makes you keep wanting to do it over and over again.
In baseball's early days it was more common to be a 2-way player (same in football), but no 1 was better at it at the time than the Babe. After him players stopped trying to do that so they wouldn't wear down physically & mentally until Shohei arrived.
Shohei Ohtani is the best baseball player. What he is doing in baseball is like one of the best football ⚽️ goalies being one of the highest-scoring strikers in the game. It is unheard of that he pitches AND hits, both at an elite level. It would be unheard of for a goalie to be one of the highest-scoring strikers.
There is a sweet spot in the bat. When you hit the ball just right you barely feel it. Then you know. I remember these two games. For those who know baseball, it was mind boggling. Never thought possible that one man could do what he did, and what he does on a regular basis.
It’s not just that Ohtani is “well-rounded” because he’s more than that. Usually, the best players are well-rounded as position players OR as pitchers, not both. Being able to hit/field AND pitch at even mediocre levels is insanely impressive because 99.99% of players at this level only do one, but he’s ELITE at both. It’s absolutely insane.
Shohei was fucking painting the corners that game. They never stood a chance. But he is actually one of the fastest players, throws a fastball up to 102 mph, and they actually did put him in the outfield a few times to keep his bat in the lineup. He's a freak. Only player to ever qualify as a hitter and a pitcher for the titles at the end of the year.
Just a couple things to add: Not only is it incredible he has the technical ability to master both hitting and pitching (each which take an Olympic level training regimen), but physically speaking, he's one of hardest throwing pitchers (can throw over 100 mph), has arguably the best power in the game as a hitter (famously, he hit a ball through the roof at the Tokyo dome when he played in Japan), and is one of the top 10 fastest runners in the game, maybe top 5.
Showtime. We’re watching history boys. He’s probably the best player the game has seen in a long time, and saying a lot since his teammate Mike Trout is an incredible all-around player. Shohei’s dominance on both sides of the ball hasn’t been seen since Ruth, as I’m sure others have mentioned.
6:54 Babe Ruth was definitely a very good pitcher and hitter, but never really at the same time. He had a couple seasons with the Boston Red Sox where he did well at both, but he stopped pitching when he was moved to the Yankees and that’s when he starting hitting a ton of home runs. Just puts into perspective what Shohei is doing as an elite pitcher and hitter at the same time when Babe is widely regarded as the best baseball player ever. It’s incredible, and I hope he can keep it up.
The fact that the Angels have arguably the two best players of the last decade and zero playoff success is just depressing. Meanwhile, the other team in their city is competing for championships every year
Ohtani may be the best single player ever to play the game. He easily could be an All-Star team regular as a pitcher. He would definitely be an All-Star regular as a batter. To have both, simultaneously, is just insane. Players devote their working lives to hit the way he does and he just so much more. Incredible man. As an aside I loved the Great Britain celebrations 😂 Was a lot of fun generally to see the teams play their hearts out and celebrate in a way that shows pride for their home. You guys picked a very fun time to start watching baseball because the World Baseball Classic was just incredible fun.
The hat for the home run is kind of recent actually, I think the first team to do something like it was San Diego they had a big necklace, and each team came up with something of their own to give a player who hits a home run. Angels as you've seen have a cowboy hat, the Blue Jays have a jacket, the Mariners have a darth vader helmet, team GB like you mentioned has the crown an cape. Its one of those things of players starting to have more fun and bring more expression into the game.
If you enjoy what we do and want to show further support then you are welcome to donate using our PayPal link, if not, a simple like and sub would be amazing, thanks for all the support so far ❤️ www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=BZRANMGGL9Q9Q
For a little historical context: like you've heard, Ohtani is called the first ace pitcher and home run hitter "since Babe Ruth." Something to realize is, Babe Ruth played as a pitcher more than 100 years ago. In fact, when Babe Ruth was a starting pitcher from 1914-1919, that was the end of what is called the "Dead Ball" era in baseball. The baseball itself was much softer back then, and much more difficult to hit a long way. Then in 1919, Ruth's last year as a full-time pitcher, he hit 29 home runs, which at the time was unheard of. People went nuts about all the home runs, and fans flocked to the stadiums to see Babe Ruth hit. Beginning in 1920, when Ruth had been sold by Boston to the New York Yankees (a whole other story in itself), they started winding the ball tighter like it is now, and put Ruth as a right fielder so people could see him hit every game -- because pitchers only start a game once every 4-5 days or so. So in 1920, Ruth hit 54 home runs, became a baseball icon, and the game was never the same again. Anyway, the difference with Ohtani is that he is now playing the outfield so that he can hit, AND pitching every 5th game. Even Babe Ruth really didn't rotate between pitching and playing the outfield/hitting for entire seasons, like Ohtani is now doing.
Every player in baseball has experienced that feeling when you absolutely destroy a pitch and when it’s a home run it’s so fluid that sometimes you don’t even feel the ball hitting the bat.
I got hooked to a game called eBaseball Power Pros to the point where I understood the rules and the joy of the game, so I fully enjoyed this year's WBC. Funny but true story.
Statistically, Shohei Ohtani is one of the best hitters in the league while *also* being one of the best pitchers, he's like two elite players rolled into one, and quite often he pitches and hits in the same game! If you'd like to see more about him I highly recommend checking out "The Year of Ohtani" by Foolish Baseball (or any other video by him for that matter) for some extra context on how ridiculous he is stats-wise
One might think with incredible Hall of Fame level players like Shohei Ohtani, Mike Trout and Albert Pujols recently on their roster, the LA Angels would occasionally be good. You'd be wrong, though.
Shohei is the greatest talent we will see in our lifetime on a baseball diamond. We haven’t seen someone who can pitch and hit at a high level since the 1920s(Babe Ruth as you guys mentioned) but was no where near the pitcher shoehi is. Every time he takes the field we witness history. I have a couple suggestions for you guys. Randy Johnson (Pitcher) if you haven’t Ken Griffey Jr(My favorite player of all time, while he was playing he was called arguably the greatest talent the mlb has seen, he’s a outfielder/batter) and my favorite player right now Bryce Harper(another outfielder/batter)
For context: there is no player that has had both 8 RBIs in a single game AND 13Ks in a single game in the span of an entire career. Shohei is the only one who has done both, and he did it in the span of 24 hours.
You can definitely feel it when you get a good hit on the ball, and I imagine it's only moreso at this level of play. As for Ohtani; barring some unfortunate injury, he's going to the Baseball Hall of Fame, and is well on his way to being considered one of the greatest of all time. The man's athleticism is world-class.
Each team generally has their own home run celebration, and often they change from season to season. Baseball players and fans are a very superstitious bunch. If it didn’t bring you good luck last year, time to change it up.
Not just decades...ever. There has never been anyone that can steal 20+ bases, throw over 100mph with double digit strike out games, and hit 460ft homers...in the same season.
You have to react to the Little League World Series in August. 10 - 12 yr olds from all over the world. And their all good. We'll remind you when it starts 👍⚾️
Hitting a ball the size of a fist going 120km - 160+km per Hour with a 7 cm diameter bat into the stands is amazing. It takes longer and more Practice for a baseball player to hone their skills compare to other sports. And there’s also different type of pitches (cutter, curve, fastball) That a Batter has to try to read. Start watching different types of pitches, it’s interesting. It’s a very strategic game. Once you understand the rules and plays it’s actually a great game that requires a lot of skills.
Ohtani is a generational player and he’s well on his way to being a larger than life figure, but what’s crazy is that his team mate Mike Trout is already at that stratosphere and could be arguably the greatest ever even with injuries and such trout could retire now and in 5 years be a first ballot hall of famer. Plus Mike Trout is a season ticket holder for the Philadelphia Eagles grew up in south Jersey as an Eagles Phillies fan.
You should check out one of the "not so serious" baseball videos. Great compilation of silly and fun moments that happen when the players are sitting on the bench.
When you hit a home run you know. You don't feel it hit the bat because it bounces off in the perfect manner. Perfect spot. Perfect angle off the bat (early, to the pull side, late to the opposite field). By the time you process it, it's already halfway out of the field and still going up. That's how you know. You don't really know how to judge speed of a ball, the trajectory, and account for gravity the whole time until you play baseball. Then it just comes natural. This balls travelling at ____ mp/h at a ___° angle, it will land somewhere here, so I need to be here.
When you hit the sweet spot of the bat on a swing, you feel nothing. If you swing and miss you feel the air resistance, when you make contact you feel it except the sweet spot. Every time I felt nothing I knew it was long gone
The last time there was a great hitter who could also pitch at a high level it was a man named Babe Ruth. The difference between Ruth and Ohtani is that Ruth played 100 years ago when the sport was still fairly new, players who could pitch and hit were more common, and there wasn't the same level of training as today. Ohtani is playing at a time when players are extremely specialized in what they can do. You almost have no time as a baseball player to train for anything but your specific role. Somehow Ohatani is able to pitch AND hit at an elite level, which is unprecedented. Ohtani is worthy of being the greatest athlete alive because of this in my book, it's insane what he's doing
I played till middle school as pitcher. Throw 80 pitches of your best stuff burn your entire arm for 2-3days. I only clocked about 75mph for fastball. It take one in a billions talent to be a 2 way player in major league level. Not to mention being top 3 for both.
there are some home runs you know, but definitely not all. some home runs are referred to as “wall scrapers” in reference to how they barely make it over.
By the way when Shohei hit it deep and the defender caught it which allowed the other player to run home plate it wasn’t necessarily intentional but in Shoehei’s mind he was probably thinking I want to make this go deep even if I don’t get the best contact off I just want to make it go deep, it’s called a sac fly
Remember DN guys in batting practice cage, DON'T swing at every pitch.Take a few balls for rest of your arms.Read the path of the ball,it might take a few swings,but once you get the timing of the pitch you do just fine..Know where you like for the ball to be like:👉 low and away,up in the zone( high "fastball") Inside picth at the knees if your a low ball hitter, middle of the plate down(low fastball hitter,or breaking ball⚾👍
Thank you for the tips Anthony, appreciate them! We’re in the process of arranging a visit to our most local baseball club. We’re hoping to be in there for May 🤞
4:44 when you make that good of a connection you don’t feel it on your hands, it literally just bounces off of the barrel. By taking batting practice so often, they know when it’s a homerun or not right off the bat…typically
The white cowboy hat given in the dugout after a home run honors the Angels first owner, Gene Autry known to cowboys of all ages as the singing cowboy. Amongst Gene’s hit songs is one you are probably aware of, Rudolph the red nose reindeer.
Hey guys... I just wanted to let you know I really like the channel... It's not often you get to see something you're very familiar with (American sports) with fresh eyes again! Its awesome and I hope one day you will get to attend a college football rivalry game! Cheers!
Baseball is played at different levels, minor league, college, and in the lower grades. Many years ago, everyone used wooden bats. Today, almost everyone, other than the major leagues, uses aluminum bats. Major league baseball wants to keep the tradition by using wooden bats.
All this celebrating is a new tradition and it’s kind a fun. Growing up in the 80s if any team celebrated a little too Much, they’d get a fastball in the ear next inning. Unspoken rule about hotdogging.
4:11 Yes it was intentional. Hitters will sometimes sacrifice getting an out in order to advance a base runner. Bunting and long fly outs are sacrifice plays . But obviously you can not use this tactic with 2 outs .
They're not necessarily trying to get an out though. Yes, it's intentional that they're trying to fly it to the outfield, as opposed to hitting a ground ball, but ideally they're still trying to get a hit at the same time. If they don't get the hit, then at the very least, they sacrificed a run in.
Ohtani’s the GOAT, but another ball player you should check out is Ichiro. His arrival in MLB paved the way for players like Ohtani and he’s got a little pitching prowess too 😉
He’s truly a unicorn because pitchers actually don’t even hit anymore in the MLB. The only comparable to Shohei is Babe Ruth, who played in the 1920s and 30s and only pitched for about 3 years, which shows how insane it is that Ohtani does is as well as he does in the modern game. Also a little fun fact, Shohei Ohtani plays for the Los Angeles Angels, who also have Mike Trout. The two of them are arguably the 2 best players in the world, and they haven’t made it to the playoffs since 2014 🤯. It’s insane to think, Ohtani is the best player in the world and we have yet to see him play in the playoffs, hence the reason most people believe Ohtani will sign elsewhere in free agency after this season, most likely for the largest contract ever
Thanks for watching, we hope you enjoyed! Please like, share & subscribe to support the channel.
Other ways to support the channel:
Donate to the channel via PayPal (PayPal account not needed) - www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=BZRANMGGL9Q9Q
Join our Discord, meet the community, submit requests, be included in channel and content polls - discord.gg/cAkQwUuPN8
Find Great Baseball Products on Amazon - Our Affiliate Links are - amzn.to/3Mcl9G0 (Shirts) or amzn.to/3MdkYdB (Balls)
React to his 2021 mvp highlights
The only thing you need to know about Shohei Ohtani is that ten years ago people would have said that he is an impossibility. To be an elite hitter, while also being an ace pitcher, is absolutely absurd. He is a video game create a character.
It is also important to note that while Babe Ruth was an amazing pitcher and an amazing hitter, he has substantially worse when he tried to do both at the same time. He was only a two-way player for a short period of time and he ditched it soon after because it was dragging him down.
I'd like to add that people were talking about the impossibility of his situation even in his first and second years in the league when he was right in front of us. Most of the discourse was about when, rather than if, he was going to convert to a full time pitcher or batter as it was just not viable to do both at a high level (and his injuries in his first couple years lended credence to this). He shut that down the impossibility question real quick with his MVP season
It's easier to look back and say oh yeah of course he's doing this, but even just before his MVP season I thought he'd cap out at just being decent at one and elite at the other. But the fact that he is elite at both, like top 5-10 hitter and pitcher is just absurd and something i never thought possible until it happened.
@Spman2099 no that is total BS. In 1919, the only year he was a full time pitcher and full time outfielder, he led the major leagues in home runs with 29. Ruth was a freak of nature that literally nobody in any American sport can be compared to.
@@cinnaminson0653 It's not total BS, he's right. Ruth only had a single year where he both regularly hit and pitched, 1919 like you said. He was a phenomenal hitter, but pitching wise he doesn't come remotely close to Ohtani. He only started 15 games that year and was a league average pitcher (102 ERA+)
@@cinnaminson0653 Don't get me wrong, Babe Ruth is a legend. He was an incredible pitcher and an incredible hitter. However, he spoke publicly about why he stopped being a two-way player, and he himself felt like it was taking too heavy of a toll on him and that he couldn't keep doing both (and he chose hitting because it was what got the big reactions from the fans).
It isn't a coincidence that his very worst season as a pitcher just happened to be during his (brief) time as a two-way player. Now, to be clear, Ruth's final season pitching wasn't a disaster, but he was reduced to being a league average pitcher. He is a legend, but he wasn't able to do what Ohtani is doing.
To put this back-to-back performance into a football/soccer context, it'd be like a player scoring three goals one game, and in the next, he plays goalie, and shuts down the opponent with a clean sheet.
Wow so that makes him the best in all of sports?? Must be if that is the case 😮
This is a great way of framing how impressive these two performances were
@@willwala8762 he is arguable the best baseball player of this decade, maybe the most impactful too
@@willwala8762 You can certainly make that argument. Because he isn't just an elite pitcher and hitter on stats at the same time. He is also measurably one of the most physical impressive. He is 6'5" and weighs well over 200lbs. So he is big but runs very well. He has one of the fastest fastballs in the world (threw one 102 just the other day). He hits some of the furthest and fastest homeruns of anyone he hit one nearly 120mph last year and has hit several over 450ft. But he also has elite speed. He has been clocked at 30ft per second. The only players faster than him are guys who specialize in speed and almost none of them have his power and none are pitchers. In the season before last, he stole 22 bases...the league leaders in stolen bases are usually somewhere between 30-50. But those guys are almost all lead off players who get more at bats by a large margin in the season than Shohei and stealing bases is one of their main skills and most are not power hitters. There has never been anyone like him. Ohtani is essentially the baseball version of taking Steph Curry and Lebron James and forming one player in basketball.
@@willwala8762 it's more like nobody else can do that. It's basically impossible to hit well and also pitch well in baseball. The sport is well over 200 years old and the only other player who was one of the best pitchers in the game as well as one of the best hitters in the game was Babe fucking Ruth and not even Babe Ruth did both at the same time successfully.
Literally a once in a century kind of player. He's the talk of baseball and he's still not talked about nearly enough.
He’s incredible!
I think people are talkin about him just lil bit right now ;)
Arguably the single most skilled player of all time. I personally don't even think it's arguable though. I honestly think he could play any single position at an elite level. Like put him out at shortstop or catcher and just watch him crush that too lol.
The cowboy hat, that is worn by a player after hitting a home run, is tribute to the Angels founder and first owner Gene Autry, who was a cowboy actor/singer. While he was owner, the phrase was “win one for the Cowboy”. A sticker is added to the hat for every home run.
Thanks for the context, appreciate it 😊
Mr. Autry was referred to as " The Singin Cowboy ". Was a very decent man and most of this country rooted for his beloved Angels to win a pennant but unfortunately they never did until after his death. They won the American league pennant and the world series pennant in 2002....Mr Autry passed in 1998 though
What he's done in the world baseball classic this year has been amazing
My hatred for the Angels grew 10x tho because they’re pulling him for the semis and finals. The first two rounds of the WBC are gonna end up being more entertaining than the last two because of it. We need Shohei vs. Trout and they took that from us. How dare they
@@BBar13 I did not know that wth shohei isn't playing against Mexico or the championship?????
@@sacrilegiousboi He is, no idea what that guy is talking about. He's been in Miami practicing. Only news was that he would only potentially pitch in the final game, but that was known when Japan started him in the quarterfinals.
@@raskbell yup, @Bryan has no idea what he’s talking about. Ohtani is still batting both in the Semis and Final.
Ohtani isn’t starting in either, but that’s because to do so he’d have to start on short rest. He started the quarter final on Thursday, March 16th. With the 5 days off he takes between starts, he wouldn’t start again until Wed., March 22nd, which is the day after the Final. He’s not going to start a game on short rest, this early in the year.
Despite this, yesterday he did say that he will be available to pitch in relief (likely as closer) in the Final should the opportunity arise. This is fine because it will be like a bullpen, rather than full start, before his next scheduled start (for the Angels) on Friday the 24th.
@@SomeGuys31415 lol I have since learned all of this. I was under the impression they were pulling him fully so he could be back at camp to ramp up for his Spring Training start.
“Generational talent” truly applies here. Plus he’s just a great guy with so much respect for the game. I firmly believe that if you love baseball, you love Shohei!
4:10 was not so much intentional but a positive outcome that you'll take in that situation. It's called a sacrifice fly because the batter was put out by the catch but the runner was able to advance after the catch was made. More intentional sacrifices are sacrifice bunts were they just bump the ball a few feet forward in the infield grass to a place where the fielders can come in to get the hitter out but not with enough time to get a runner on base out.
The best hitters DEFINITELY know when they got a hold of one. There's some great home run highlight videos out there where they just stand there and watch it go or do a huge bat flip to celebrate (or both).
And they DO stick him out in left field sometimes and he's a pretty above-average fielder to boot. Usually though he's just the designated hitter when he's not pitching.
Although sometimes the wind's blowing in stronger than the hitter thinks, so they stand around admiring it for a bit and then suddenly realize they better start running...
This is a style of play he developed in Japan. When he played in Japan for the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters for the Nippon Professional Baseball league he was on the roster list as their Ace (#1 pitcher in the Bullpen) Outfielder and Designated Hitter.
Ohtani explained in football/soccer terms: imagine if every 5 matches or so Mbappe played goalie and was legitimately the best goalie in the world when he did. While still scoring 40 plus goals a season. That’s what Ohtani is doing as we speak. We haven’t seen this in baseball in well over 100 years. Last person was literally Babe Ruth himself.
The sensation in your hands/arms when you’ve really connected on a pitch is truly one of the best feelings in the world.
And yes, you can almost always tell when one is going out of the park, by both sound & feel.
It’s actually pretty funny to watch people get that feeling and then not hit a homer because of wind
More accurately, the lack of sensation. Only had one of those in my baseball life, and theres nothing like it. Cant even feel the ball connect but the sound is immaculate. Still remember it 5 or so years later.
Yep! Best feeling in the world, and you really don’t even feel it, you just know. You can find a similar feeling if you play golf. Flushing a golf shot is a similar feeling, although not the same.
That crack of the bat is one the most exciting sounds. I agree, to feel it is incredible; that marriage of both a great swing and perfect contact is something amazing. I imagine the the only thing that would probably come close is the perfect tennis serve, or golf tee off
totally agree, I played many many sports and nothing beats this feeling that happens during the moment of solid impact.
I know it's difficult for you guys to evaluate and appreciate the greatness of Shohei Ohtani, since the sport of baseball is something virtually unknown to you. Keep in mind that Ohtani is doing something no other professional baseball player has done, including Babe Ruth--to be an elite pitcher and elite hitter in the sport. He's done it at this level for two seasons now, despite the workload that other players regard as superhuman--the mental and physical strain of performing in two very different aspects of the sport. And his ascendance into stardom also enlivened the sport in the US and internationally after a long period of declining interest among sports fans in the US. So he's transcended the sport and become an international phenomenon with athletes in other sports also following him because of how unique and gifted he is. We just have to hope that he stays healthy now, because he's already shown that he can be even better than he's been in a previous season, and he's already carved out a place that is unmatched in the history of baseball.
Thank you SurfWriter, great read through this. No question Ohtani sounds incredible, and on first viewing it’s clear to see how good he is both pitching and hitting. Looking forward to the new season and seeing more of Ohtani.
The hat is a tribute to original Angels owner old time singing cowboy Gene Autry.
Yes! Absolutely!👍⚾Happy Trails Gene🙏
If you guys wanna see an in depth look at why ohtani is special, i recommend checking out “The Year of Ohtani” by foolish baseball
Thanks for the suggestion!
It is fairly common when a batter just smashes a deep home run that they don't immediately start running because they know it's a home run. When you're watching games on TV enough you pick up on clues to where the ball is going like the sound of the bat, how the ball comes off the bat, and what the batter does afterwards. When you hear that crack and you see the batter pause to look at it, that's one of the situations where you know it's deep into the outfield stands.
Showboating. It's only done for vanity and showing up the other team. Classless.
He also has great running ability. Literally, an all-rounder.
It's hard to put into words how impressive this really is. Nobody even TRIES to do what Shohei does by both hitting and pitching regularly, but he does both at an elite level. It really is similar to Bo Jackson and Deion Sanders being elite at two different sports at the same time, but to the extent that he likely is one of the top 10 in the world at both at the same time.
Jackson and Sanders were more than respectable baseball players, but hardly elite. Not close to their football talents.
To me it'd be like if a Quarterback also played defensive end at the same time. It's just insane that this is a thing that is happening.
In the American League (where the Angels are) and, starting this season, in the National League (so ALL teams now), there is a rule called the Designated Hitter, whereby the pitchers do not hit. Instead each team has one player who bats in place of the pitcher and doesn't play defense. But Ohtani is so good he is also the DH in the games he pitches.
Thanks for the info! He’s so good!
Just a small correction: the universal DH started last season
When a player hits the ball in the sweet spot of the bat, they barely feel the impact. You hear the sound, see the rise of the ball, and you just know. It's a sweet feeling.
It took a 100yrs to have another player hit as good as he pitches in MLB. That's what makes Shohei Ohtani so special.
Shohei is without a doubt the greatest baseball player to ever live. Nobody has ever come anywhere close to doing what he is able to do on the baseball field. To be one of the top hitters and pitchers at the same time is literally unheard of. Babe Ruth did start out as a pitcher and did play for a bit as a two-way player like Ohtani, but Ruth was only a pitcher at the beginning of his career, once he became a Yankee is stopped pitching and played as an outfielder exclusively after that. Ohtani was like if Patrick Mahomes was also one of the best linebackers in the NFL while still being as good as he is at QB
Good to see Ohtani finally show up as I knew he would eventually. He is easily the most impressive athlete alive today in my opinion.
All-time hitting great Babe Ruth was also a extremely good pitcher in the early part of his career (about one hundred ago) before becoming the league's most dominant hitter. . . and hot dog eating champ! 😜
He’s the most impressive baseball I’ve ever seen and I been watching since the early 90’s… he’s an elite hitter and pitcher, the first since Babe Ruth!
It would have been enough if he was starter-quality at hitting and pitching but he’s elite at both.
He and Angels teammate Mike Trout are two of the top 5 players in the league yet the Angels have yet to make the playoffs with them both. Just goes to show how much of a team game baseball is. If Japan can manage to beat Mexico in the World Baseball Classic semifinal we could possibly (though unlikely) see Ohtani pitch to Trout which to me would be the greatest thing ever.
I would love to see that but I think they (the Angels) agreed that Ohtani can't start anymore WBC games (could be wrong)
There's talk Ohtani could be the closer if Japan leads in the 9th. So still a slim chance the matchup could potentially happen
Update April 26 2023.
He’s leading his team with 6 home runs .
In pitching five games he has a 0.64 era ( he allowing less than one earned run a game). he’s allowed just an .092 opponent batting average this year. That’s the lowest in a pitcher’s first five starts in a season since the mound was moved to its current distance in 1893.
Update 2. June 2023. His era is now 3. Still leads his team.
On the other hand he’s got 23 hr and leads baseball.
Shohei's WBC highlights from this year should be a fun watch after the tournament finishes
Shohei Ohtani is the most talented baseball player to ever live and if anyone says differently they’re wrong. No one else has every provided as much value to a baseball team, even his teammate Mike Trout who is arguably the greatest MLB player of all time. They always try to compare him to Babe Ruth but Babe Ruth would think Shohei Ohtani was a sorcerer
Everything you have said is wrong, he is one of the best now, but all time he's 5 at best
@@chasejackson7248 Depends on how you’re measuring it. I’m measuring it based on the fact that no one has ever done what he’s doing, not even Babe Ruth
3:47 Great observations; love to see the baseball I Q increasing with both of you. The best part about watching your videos is when you comment about something that seems odd or peculiar that someone new to the game picks up on.
This is what’s called a sacrificial fly ball or a “sac fly” for short. With a sca fly, the goal is to hit the ball intentionally deep even if it means the outfield will catch it. This then gives the players on base time to “tag up” and advance to the next base before the ball is thrown back to the infield. It can only be done when there is 0 or 1 outs and runners are on base. It basically trades an out for an advance on base.
Thank you Christian for the support as always, appreciate this. Thanks for the context and name of this, definitely makes a lot of sense
On the question if you know when you hit a homer, yes you can typically both do to the feel off the bat and the angle of the ball. Listen to hitters talk about hitting home runs and they will talk about a certain vibration in the bat when the ball impacts. They have hit enough weak contact and flairs to know when something clicked right more often than not. The commentary crew can usually guess depending on the angle like we viewers do
Every Baseball player knows the feeling of hitting a ball on the sweet spot of the bat, one of the best feelings in the world.
I grew up playin baseball till i was 16. I batted in the 4 spot which is usually called batting clean-up. In hindsight, the 1st 3 batters get on base...then the batter in the 4 spot (usually the strongest or most consistent batter), hits to get the base-runners home thus, cleaning up the bases. When you get to the batting cages you will realize there is a spot on the bat called a 'sweet-spot'. It's that connection with the bat and ball where you immediately feel a kind of electricity. Like, you just know that swing and connection are perfect. When Ohtani hit that blast...he knew it was in orbit.
I would say hitting the sweet spot feels like you've hit the ball purely. If you ever played golf, it's a similar feeling. You can hit the ball all over the bat/club and still get decent results. But when you hit that sweet spot it feels so pure and is what makes you keep wanting to do it over and over again.
Shohei is a living legend!
Reacting to the 2022 highlights of Shohei Ohtani would be a great one to watch next!!!
In baseball's early days it was more common to be a 2-way player (same in football), but no 1 was better at it at the time than the Babe. After him players stopped trying to do that so they wouldn't wear down physically & mentally until Shohei arrived.
A sacrifice fly is when a batter intentionally flies out to advance a runner. It's excellent strategy and a sign of a player's humility.
Certainly not necessarily intentional to sacrifice. That's just scoring vocabulary.
indeed, it is the difference between a productive out and a non-productive out.
@@cteal2018 A sacrifice is a sacrifice regardless of intentions.
@@G.0. The primary objective is to get a hit. A sacrifice is a happy by-product of your failure.
A sacrifice does not need to go to the outfield or be a fly ball, and certainly does not need to be intentional.
Shohei Ohtani is the best baseball player. What he is doing in baseball is like one of the best football ⚽️ goalies being one of the highest-scoring strikers in the game. It is unheard of that he pitches AND hits, both at an elite level. It would be unheard of for a goalie to be one of the highest-scoring strikers.
There is a sweet spot in the bat. When you hit the ball just right you barely feel it. Then you know.
I remember these two games. For those who know baseball, it was mind boggling. Never thought possible that one man could do what he did, and what he does on a regular basis.
It’s not just that Ohtani is “well-rounded” because he’s more than that. Usually, the best players are well-rounded as position players OR as pitchers, not both. Being able to hit/field AND pitch at even mediocre levels is insanely impressive because 99.99% of players at this level only do one, but he’s ELITE at both. It’s absolutely insane.
Shohei was fucking painting the corners that game. They never stood a chance. But he is actually one of the fastest players, throws a fastball up to 102 mph, and they actually did put him in the outfield a few times to keep his bat in the lineup. He's a freak. Only player to ever qualify as a hitter and a pitcher for the titles at the end of the year.
Just a couple things to add:
Not only is it incredible he has the technical ability to master both hitting and pitching (each which take an Olympic level training regimen), but physically speaking, he's one of hardest throwing pitchers (can throw over 100 mph), has arguably the best power in the game as a hitter (famously, he hit a ball through the roof at the Tokyo dome when he played in Japan), and is one of the top 10 fastest runners in the game, maybe top 5.
Showtime.
We’re watching history boys. He’s probably the best player the game has seen in a long time, and saying a lot since his teammate Mike Trout is an incredible all-around player. Shohei’s dominance on both sides of the ball hasn’t been seen since Ruth, as I’m sure others have mentioned.
6:54 Babe Ruth was definitely a very good pitcher and hitter, but never really at the same time. He had a couple seasons with the Boston Red Sox where he did well at both, but he stopped pitching when he was moved to the Yankees and that’s when he starting hitting a ton of home runs. Just puts into perspective what Shohei is doing as an elite pitcher and hitter at the same time when Babe is widely regarded as the best baseball player ever. It’s incredible, and I hope he can keep it up.
The fact that the Angels have arguably the two best players of the last decade and zero playoff success is just depressing. Meanwhile, the other team in their city is competing for championships every year
It boggles the mind what a trainwreck they are year after year...I mean, they are never even close to a wild card
I would call it criminal. Mike Trout needs to come home to Philly!
Ohtani may be the best single player ever to play the game. He easily could be an All-Star team regular as a pitcher. He would definitely be an All-Star regular as a batter. To have both, simultaneously, is just insane. Players devote their working lives to hit the way he does and he just so much more. Incredible man.
As an aside I loved the Great Britain celebrations 😂 Was a lot of fun generally to see the teams play their hearts out and celebrate in a way that shows pride for their home.
You guys picked a very fun time to start watching baseball because the World Baseball Classic was just incredible fun.
Y'all should watch highlights of the Kerry Wood 20 strikeout game in 1998! By one metric it's the most dominant game ever pitched.
The cowboy hat is in honor of Gene Autry, a cowboy movie star in the 1930s-50s who was the founding owner of the team.
Thank you!
this is cool watching people getting into a new sport for themselves
We are really enjoying it!
The hat for the home run is kind of recent actually, I think the first team to do something like it was San Diego they had a big necklace, and each team came up with something of their own to give a player who hits a home run. Angels as you've seen have a cowboy hat, the Blue Jays have a jacket, the Mariners have a darth vader helmet, team GB like you mentioned has the crown an cape. Its one of those things of players starting to have more fun and bring more expression into the game.
If you enjoy what we do and want to show further support then you are welcome to donate using our PayPal link, if not, a simple like and sub would be amazing, thanks for all the support so far ❤️
www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=BZRANMGGL9Q9Q
Watch his 2021 mvp highlights
For a little historical context: like you've heard, Ohtani is called the first ace pitcher and home run hitter "since Babe Ruth." Something to realize is, Babe Ruth played as a pitcher more than 100 years ago. In fact, when Babe Ruth was a starting pitcher from 1914-1919, that was the end of what is called the "Dead Ball" era in baseball. The baseball itself was much softer back then, and much more difficult to hit a long way. Then in 1919, Ruth's last year as a full-time pitcher, he hit 29 home runs, which at the time was unheard of. People went nuts about all the home runs, and fans flocked to the stadiums to see Babe Ruth hit. Beginning in 1920, when Ruth had been sold by Boston to the New York Yankees (a whole other story in itself), they started winding the ball tighter like it is now, and put Ruth as a right fielder so people could see him hit every game -- because pitchers only start a game once every 4-5 days or so. So in 1920, Ruth hit 54 home runs, became a baseball icon, and the game was never the same again. Anyway, the difference with Ohtani is that he is now playing the outfield so that he can hit, AND pitching every 5th game. Even Babe Ruth really didn't rotate between pitching and playing the outfield/hitting for entire seasons, like Ohtani is now doing.
If you liked the way he knows he hit the home run or his demeanor, check out the best bat flips.
This guy brought me back to watching baseball
Every player in baseball has experienced that feeling when you absolutely destroy a pitch and when it’s a home run it’s so fluid that sometimes you don’t even feel the ball hitting the bat.
So glad that I found your channel...love you guys,
Thank you Bonnie! Really appreciate the support
You should check out Shohei in the Home Run Derby. Absolute Chaos
I got hooked to a game called eBaseball Power Pros to the point where I understood the rules and the joy of the game, so I fully enjoyed this year's WBC. Funny but true story.
Statistically, Shohei Ohtani is one of the best hitters in the league while *also* being one of the best pitchers, he's like two elite players rolled into one, and quite often he pitches and hits in the same game! If you'd like to see more about him I highly recommend checking out "The Year of Ohtani" by Foolish Baseball (or any other video by him for that matter) for some extra context on how ridiculous he is stats-wise
One might think with incredible Hall of Fame level players like Shohei Ohtani, Mike Trout and Albert Pujols recently on their roster, the LA Angels would occasionally be good. You'd be wrong, though.
Oh dear 😂
Shohei is the greatest talent we will see in our lifetime on a baseball diamond. We haven’t seen someone who can pitch and hit at a high level since the 1920s(Babe Ruth as you guys mentioned) but was no where near the pitcher shoehi is. Every time he takes the field we witness history. I have a couple suggestions for you guys. Randy Johnson (Pitcher) if you haven’t Ken Griffey Jr(My favorite player of all time, while he was playing he was called arguably the greatest talent the mlb has seen, he’s a outfielder/batter) and my favorite player right now Bryce Harper(another outfielder/batter)
His swing is absolute perfection
I’m a die hard Yankees fan. Even I know that shohei is THE GREATEST player. Imagine being the best striker and the best goalie at the same time!
For context: there is no player that has had both 8 RBIs in a single game AND 13Ks in a single game in the span of an entire career.
Shohei is the only one who has done both, and he did it in the span of 24 hours.
Shohei Ohtani is the greatest, what he’s doing no one else can follow up
You can definitely feel it when you get a good hit on the ball, and I imagine it's only moreso at this level of play. As for Ohtani; barring some unfortunate injury, he's going to the Baseball Hall of Fame, and is well on his way to being considered one of the greatest of all time. The man's athleticism is world-class.
He plays in the outfield every once in a while too
It would be cool to see you guys react to the best throws/strongest arms in baseball or best defensive plays
Each team generally has their own home run celebration, and often they change from season to season. Baseball players and fans are a very superstitious bunch. If it didn’t bring you good luck last year, time to change it up.
The most amazing player to come along in decades!
Not just decades...ever. There has never been anyone that can steal 20+ bases, throw over 100mph with double digit strike out games, and hit 460ft homers...in the same season.
You have to react to the Little League World Series in August.
10 - 12 yr olds from all over the world. And their all good.
We'll remind you when it starts 👍⚾️
Thats a great idea. Stuff like that is perfect for this channel .
People take this guy for granted. It is comparable to being a elite athlete in 2 sports simultaneously.
Hitting a ball the size of a fist going 120km - 160+km per
Hour with a 7 cm diameter bat into the stands is amazing. It takes longer and more
Practice for a baseball player to hone their skills compare to other sports. And there’s also different type of pitches (cutter, curve, fastball)
That a
Batter has to try to read. Start watching different types of pitches, it’s interesting. It’s a very strategic game. Once you understand the rules and plays it’s actually a great game that requires a lot of skills.
Ohtani is a generational player and he’s well on his way to being a larger than life figure, but what’s crazy is that his team mate Mike Trout is already at that stratosphere and could be arguably the greatest ever even with injuries and such trout could retire now and in 5 years be a first ballot hall of famer. Plus Mike Trout is a season ticket holder for the Philadelphia Eagles grew up in south Jersey as an Eagles Phillies fan.
You should check out one of the "not so serious" baseball videos. Great compilation of silly and fun moments that happen when the players are sitting on the bench.
When you hit a home run you know. You don't feel it hit the bat because it bounces off in the perfect manner. Perfect spot. Perfect angle off the bat (early, to the pull side, late to the opposite field). By the time you process it, it's already halfway out of the field and still going up. That's how you know. You don't really know how to judge speed of a ball, the trajectory, and account for gravity the whole time until you play baseball. Then it just comes natural. This balls travelling at ____ mp/h at a ___° angle, it will land somewhere here, so I need to be here.
When you hit the sweet spot of the bat on a swing, you feel nothing. If you swing and miss you feel the air resistance, when you make contact you feel it except the sweet spot. Every time I felt nothing I knew it was long gone
Must be a great feeling!
The last time there was a great hitter who could also pitch at a high level it was a man named Babe Ruth. The difference between Ruth and Ohtani is that Ruth played 100 years ago when the sport was still fairly new, players who could pitch and hit were more common, and there wasn't the same level of training as today. Ohtani is playing at a time when players are extremely specialized in what they can do. You almost have no time as a baseball player to train for anything but your specific role. Somehow Ohatani is able to pitch AND hit at an elite level, which is unprecedented. Ohtani is worthy of being the greatest athlete alive because of this in my book, it's insane what he's doing
That's called stylin' 🎉🎉🎉
I played till middle school as pitcher. Throw 80 pitches of your best stuff burn your entire arm for 2-3days. I only clocked about 75mph for fastball. It take one in a billions talent to be a 2 way player in major league level. Not to mention being top 3 for both.
there are some home runs you know, but definitely not all. some home runs are referred to as “wall scrapers” in reference to how they barely make it over.
By the way when Shohei hit it deep and the defender caught it which allowed the other player to run home plate it wasn’t necessarily intentional but in Shoehei’s mind he was probably thinking I want to make this go deep even if I don’t get the best contact off I just want to make it go deep, it’s called a sac fly
131.1m/430 feet home run hit at 114 miles per hour (2nd home run). Then pitching a 13 strike out performance the next night. Incredible.
Yeah it’s super human!
Remember DN guys in batting practice cage, DON'T swing at every pitch.Take a few balls for rest of your arms.Read the path of the ball,it might take a few swings,but once you get the timing of the pitch you do just fine..Know where you like for the ball to be like:👉 low and away,up in the zone( high "fastball") Inside picth at the knees if your a low ball hitter, middle of the plate down(low fastball hitter,or breaking ball⚾👍
Thank you for the tips Anthony, appreciate them! We’re in the process of arranging a visit to our most local baseball club. We’re hoping to be in there for May 🤞
Shohei averages 11.4 strikeouts per 9 innings for his career so far
and that goes back to his time with the Fighters of the NPB.
4:44 when you make that good of a connection you don’t feel it on your hands, it literally just bounces off of the barrel. By taking batting practice so often, they know when it’s a homerun or not right off the bat…typically
Ohtani is the most impressive baseball player to ever exist.
The white cowboy hat given in the dugout after a home run honors the Angels first owner, Gene Autry known to cowboys of all ages as the singing cowboy. Amongst Gene’s hit songs is one you are probably aware of, Rudolph the red nose reindeer.
Hey guys... I just wanted to let you know I really like the channel... It's not often you get to see something you're very familiar with (American sports) with fresh eyes again! Its awesome and I hope one day you will get to attend a college football rivalry game! Cheers!
Appreciate that Thomas! Glad you enjoy the channel 😊 we would love to, finances and a full time job are an issue at the moment 😂 but one day maybe!
If the pitch is outside the strike zone (the box) and the batter swings, it’s still considered a strike.
Baseball is played at different levels, minor league, college, and in the lower grades. Many years ago, everyone used wooden bats. Today, almost everyone, other than the major leagues, uses aluminum bats. Major league baseball wants to keep the tradition by using wooden bats.
Yeah, this guy is a living legend imo. Stupid baseball popularity contest prevented him from winning the MVP last year and it's a damn shame.
8 runs batted in...sick, but the pitching is mindblowing.
All this celebrating is a new tradition and it’s kind a fun. Growing up in the 80s if any team celebrated a little too
Much, they’d get a fastball in the ear next inning. Unspoken rule about hotdogging.
Yeah I like it!
4:11 Yes it was intentional. Hitters will sometimes sacrifice getting an out in order to advance a base runner.
Bunting and long fly outs are sacrifice plays .
But obviously you can not use this tactic with 2 outs .
They're not necessarily trying to get an out though. Yes, it's intentional that they're trying to fly it to the outfield, as opposed to hitting a ground ball, but ideally they're still trying to get a hit at the same time. If they don't get the hit, then at the very least, they sacrificed a run in.
Ohtani’s the GOAT, but another ball player you should check out is Ichiro. His arrival in MLB paved the way for players like Ohtani and he’s got a little pitching prowess too 😉
Great content
And he won the WBC title too!!
He’s truly a unicorn because pitchers actually don’t even hit anymore in the MLB. The only comparable to Shohei is Babe Ruth, who played in the 1920s and 30s and only pitched for about 3 years, which shows how insane it is that Ohtani does is as well as he does in the modern game. Also a little fun fact, Shohei Ohtani plays for the Los Angeles Angels, who also have Mike Trout. The two of them are arguably the 2 best players in the world, and they haven’t made it to the playoffs since 2014 🤯. It’s insane to think, Ohtani is the best player in the world and we have yet to see him play in the playoffs, hence the reason most people believe Ohtani will sign elsewhere in free agency after this season, most likely for the largest contract ever
Ruth was not a pitcher after 1919.
@@cinnaminson0653 correct, but the point still stands, Ruth pitched 2 full seasons and part of a third, never an elite pitcher either
Best video yet.
Thanks Mike! We enjoyed this one 😀
You know when you connect and send it out!
As a hitter YOU KNOW when you got it all for a home run