I'm a Japanese baseball fan. Yamamoto pitched with more accuracy and intensity in Japan. He is getting better, but he is still not the pitcher he should be. I understand that Imanaga is a great pitcher, but I am sure that when he fully adjusts to MLB ball and the environment, we will see why he got a bigger contract than Imanaga.
I think they're both doing every bit as great as expected (exc Yamamoto's opener). Imanaga's difference, at least thus far, is that everything he's doing is so unusual, between release point & style, the lefty splitter, & so on. Yamamoto, as good as he is, is still just a really good righty, throwing fairly conventionally (just exceedingly well). Also, keep in mind that MLB & NPB balls are different & fit differently in the hand. The issue isn't that Yamamoto was paid too much, but that Imanaga was a STEAL & easily the biggest bargain gain this offseason or in recent "free agent"-style signings.
Looking forward to Shota's interview! He's spoken about his pitching mechanics or shared his knowledge for young players in several clips, and you can find those on RUclips but they are in Japanese. Let me know if you need those translated before interviewing him, as it might make the interview more interesting. For me personally, I'd like to know what part of his mechanics he's changed since he left Japan, and if he'd agree with the idea of MLB using pre-tacked balls.
Imanaga is relayively short in height, but his pitching gives the highest revolution (RPM), which makes it very difficult for any batter to connect the ball at the center of the bat.
I should point out Imanaga was teammates of Trevor Bauer the infamous at the last season in NPB and he said that he was greatly inspired by Bauer. Although Bauer isn't the greatest personality on the earth, considering how absolutely Bauer has engineered everything of himself into the pitching athlete utmost limit and the fact that Imanaga had been already known in Japan as putting the most disciplinary and thought into his pitching and philosophy in NPB long before Bauer exiled into NPB, it isn't surprising at all that Bauer was a great help for Imanaga overall. Also I suspect that one of his rather swift adjustment to MLB style from NPB style could be his some specific (of course I don't know what it would've been but in some sense the both is athlete of specific and probably love to nerding such things into death) learning from Bauer in his last season at NPB, especially considering that Bauer had (and still has, poor Bauer...) every intention to go back to MLB and been fully equipped to fight MLB mounds, and the fact that Bauer is generally rather open to tell his secret sauces when somebody ask him for them enthusiastically enough...
Feel like with Shota it's either he just immediately got used to the MLB style or it's something to do with the pitching practices. Either way it's insane he's preforming as great as he is in MLB and it's only May.
He is light years better than I would've guessed. Definitely adapted VERY quickly to MLB style and his FB plays perfectly into how pitching has evolved (elevated heaters to defeat "launch angle" swings).
Not sure that adjustment will work only because it's tough to adjust your swing like that. Typically guys will try to swing a baseball or two above where they think the pitch is to make up for the "rise"...but that's also easier said than done when he has that splitter. My guess is hitters will adjust generally, he won't finish with a 1 era, but his stuff and makeup are really good, I expect him to still be very effective.
@jasongiannaros4091 He throws 2 FB for every splitter. So, if you have 3 swings in an AB, one is going to be 19" lower & 9mph slower (per Statcast) than you expect, & apparently is indistinguishable. Meanwhile, the FBs have 3"/20% less drop than the rest of the league. And you can't really change your swing style for one pitcher or it'll really screw with your overall performance. Put another way, as incredible as his FB has been performing, batters are whiffing on 48% of his splitters. They just don't know whether to swing up or down.
@@PitchingNinjaVideosthey are not used to facing short pitchers with a rising fastball ( high spin rate) coming from such a low point . It’s going to be tough for hitters to change their hitting plane .
Absolutely loving what we're seeing from Luis Gil so far - dude is electric. But there is something just so patently ridiculous about a *changeup* at 92-93, I love it.
Yep--others caught that too. We were rushed this morning, Will was hurried editing and I didn't catch it when I watched (I was mostly listening and not watching...and that's what I get for multitasking). They're definitely 2 different people...and even throw with different hands lol
@@xXJerry202Xx LOL. I’m still kicking myself for not catching it but we were both very pressed for time today with early games and a longer video. And in fairness, Will had to put a bunch of clips to cover the time I was yapping about how good Imanaga is and why he’s so good blah blah. 😀
@@PitchingNinjaVideossince you here just wanna let you know, I don't really watch baseball. Just you, Jomboy and Baseball Doesn't Exist. Amazing analysis all of you 🙌🏽🙌🏽 thank you for the hard work 🫶
Sandoval seems to be tunneling like an expert on the outside of the plate in these clips, juggling that change that turns into a ball (Ks swinging and weak contact), and cutters that do the opposite and break back in late (Ks looking and weak contact). That makes eyes go out there. Then he blasts a his flatter 97 on the inner half that is unhittable after playing spin the bottle out with the outside black. It's a recipe for success.
love these! it would really help if you put the pitcher's line as they come (IP ER and Ks) as you say them as its hard to focus on the numbers and beauty of the pitches at the same time. thank you!!
I don't disagree but it's too tough to do a recap of every game every morning and add more text etc...while getting the videos out timely. They already run later than we want and I start on this at 6:30am every day.
Think DeRo hit the nail on the head saying the guy got the Pujols 700 home run call on the money and now he just throwing things out there 🤦🏻♂️ the Albert shout was unbelievable but he will be known more for this type of crap he keeps it up.
I think one over looked aspect of Shots is being a lefty, especially a lefty with a splitter. My theory why his fastball is so effective besides the obvious induced vertical breakkor lack thereof, is its plane. Im just guessing on numbers, but lets call a ball with no break, that comes over the plate perfectly parallel to the plate 0°, Shota's fastball comes in at say 5° angle from perfectly parallel, while most batters swing on a 10° or higher plane to the plate. This mis match in swing angle vs incoming ball angle is tough for hitters and a difficult adjustment for most hitters to make.(Again these numbers are arbitrary vut the concept is valid) I do think guys like Luis Arraez, who can easily modify their swing plane will have the most success against Shota. Look at the HR he gave up yesterday, it was a good splitter with an awkward swing that was in my opinion a lucky barrel...if Shota keeps executing like he has, I do think he will continue to be successful...of course the current level of success is unfortunately not sustainable.
100% agree. That was part of the point I tried to make re his release height combined with the IVB. It intersects with the swing path for a very short time. And it's probably also why most analysts whiffed at how effective he would be in MLB!
Even if you teach better or newer stuff, they will revert back to their old ways. If someone does stick with it and master it, they probably deserve the knowledge you gave.
The way he described it was slightly bent at the knuckles. I should be interviewing him soon (just waiting for the Cubs to finally set it up) and I'll get a precise explanation!
@PitchingNinjaVideos thanks ninja! I grabbed a baseball while watching that and couldn't quite figure it out. Seems like it should be the middle knuckles, but either way, I'm real curious and looking forward to it. Really appreciate all the amazing content and hard work that goes into it. Long Live Ninja.
Shota Imanaga has the lowest ERA in the major leageus at 1.08. If ya count folks that have made every start, I believe that is correct, but Sonny Gray has a .89 currently. Not to speak ill of Shota. Man can pitch.
yea but not like he will get permanently beaten and be out of the league with an ERA over 6.00 like cmon noww......yea sure he may finosh 14-10 with an ERA of 3.4 and thats totally fine.
Doubtful..there's a few guys who can adjust their swing to match the fastball plane(like Arraez) but he is too smart and will make adjustments as the hitters make adjustments. Look at the HR he gave up yesterday...it was what most would call a lucky hit on a ball below the zone, those are the kind of hits and HRs we will mostly give up.
I enjoy the fun voice in this channel, but I've had to stop watching the channel because the pitcher mentioned in the title is not the main subject. kinda clickbaity. and wastes my time.
Shota was so good, he morphed into a righty
hahaha...ooops
Gotta love Imanaga's energy. He's on fire. Hopefully he able to keep it up throughout the season. I want to see Cy Young.
RoY, Cy Young and golden glove would be so awesome.
I'm a Japanese baseball fan.
Yamamoto pitched with more accuracy and intensity in Japan.
He is getting better, but he is still not the pitcher he should be.
I understand that Imanaga is a great pitcher, but I am sure that when he fully adjusts to MLB ball and the environment, we will see why he got a bigger contract than Imanaga.
Totally agree. I saw a bunch of Yamamoto's starts in Japan. He's unbelievably good.
I think they're both doing every bit as great as expected (exc Yamamoto's opener). Imanaga's difference, at least thus far, is that everything he's doing is so unusual, between release point & style, the lefty splitter, & so on. Yamamoto, as good as he is, is still just a really good righty, throwing fairly conventionally (just exceedingly well). Also, keep in mind that MLB & NPB balls are different & fit differently in the hand.
The issue isn't that Yamamoto was paid too much, but that Imanaga was a STEAL & easily the biggest bargain gain this offseason or in recent "free agent"-style signings.
Yamamoto is striving to adapt to MLB while MLB is striving to adapt to Imanaga.
Dropping a deuce on the outside part of the plate is a savage move and I respect it
Looking forward to Shota's interview! He's spoken about his pitching mechanics or shared his knowledge for young players in several clips, and you can find those on RUclips but they are in Japanese. Let me know if you need those translated before interviewing him, as it might make the interview more interesting. For me personally, I'd like to know what part of his mechanics he's changed since he left Japan, and if he'd agree with the idea of MLB using pre-tacked balls.
Imanaga is relayively short in height, but his pitching gives the highest revolution (RPM), which makes it very difficult for any batter to connect the ball at the center of the bat.
Particularly great show, Ninja. Thanks!
Thank you!
9:57 clip of yoshinobu instead of shota
Sorry about that! I should've caught that when watching the edit...we were a bit rushed today since we were running a bit late.
@@PitchingNinjaVideos okay we will give you a pass this time. :)
@@PitchingNinjaVideosShota and Yamamoto is basically the same person anyways 😂
Yeah, Cubs bullpen has been abysmal. Threw Imanaga out there in the 8th because he kind of had to.
15 mins of pitching ninja I am grateful
ITS SHO TIME!!!
I should point out Imanaga was teammates of Trevor Bauer the infamous at the last season in NPB and he said that he was greatly inspired by Bauer.
Although Bauer isn't the greatest personality on the earth, considering how absolutely Bauer has engineered everything of himself into the pitching athlete utmost limit and the fact that Imanaga had been already known in Japan as putting the most disciplinary and thought into his pitching and philosophy in NPB long before Bauer exiled into NPB, it isn't surprising at all that Bauer was a great help for Imanaga overall.
Also I suspect that one of his rather swift adjustment to MLB style from NPB style could be his some specific (of course I don't know what it would've been but in some sense the both is athlete of specific and probably love to nerding such things into death) learning from Bauer in his last season at NPB, especially considering that Bauer had (and still has, poor Bauer...) every intention to go back to MLB and been fully equipped to fight MLB mounds, and the fact that Bauer is generally rather open to tell his secret sauces when somebody ask him for them enthusiastically enough...
Feel like with Shota it's either he just immediately got used to the MLB style or it's something to do with the pitching practices. Either way it's insane he's preforming as great as he is in MLB and it's only May.
He is light years better than I would've guessed. Definitely adapted VERY quickly to MLB style and his FB plays perfectly into how pitching has evolved (elevated heaters to defeat "launch angle" swings).
@@PitchingNinjaVideos Do you think elite hitters will just start going for line drive-homers against him instead eventually?
Not sure that adjustment will work only because it's tough to adjust your swing like that. Typically guys will try to swing a baseball or two above where they think the pitch is to make up for the "rise"...but that's also easier said than done when he has that splitter. My guess is hitters will adjust generally, he won't finish with a 1 era, but his stuff and makeup are really good, I expect him to still be very effective.
@jasongiannaros4091 He throws 2 FB for every splitter. So, if you have 3 swings in an AB, one is going to be 19" lower & 9mph slower (per Statcast) than you expect, & apparently is indistinguishable. Meanwhile, the FBs have 3"/20% less drop than the rest of the league. And you can't really change your swing style for one pitcher or it'll really screw with your overall performance.
Put another way, as incredible as his FB has been performing, batters are whiffing on 48% of his splitters. They just don't know whether to swing up or down.
@@PitchingNinjaVideosthey are not used to facing short pitchers with a rising fastball ( high spin rate) coming from such a low point . It’s going to be tough for hitters to change their hitting plane .
Pitching ninja vid dropped, day gets instantly better 🔥
Shota flew under the radar, while everyone was studying Yamamoto.
Absolutely loving what we're seeing from Luis Gil so far - dude is electric. But there is something just so patently ridiculous about a *changeup* at 92-93, I love it.
Fave baseball channel on RUclips 👏🏻
Thanks!
9:57 Ninja, you put a clip of Yamamoto instead of Imanaga 😂😂
Yep--others caught that too. We were rushed this morning, Will was hurried editing and I didn't catch it when I watched (I was mostly listening and not watching...and that's what I get for multitasking). They're definitely 2 different people...and even throw with different hands lol
@@PitchingNinjaVideos uh ohh, Ninja and Will are slipping 😭😭😂😂❤️❤️
@@xXJerry202Xx LOL. I’m still kicking myself for not catching it but we were both very pressed for time today with early games and a longer video. And in fairness, Will had to put a bunch of clips to cover the time I was yapping about how good Imanaga is and why he’s so good blah blah. 😀
@@PitchingNinjaVideossince you here just wanna let you know, I don't really watch baseball. Just you, Jomboy and Baseball Doesn't Exist. Amazing analysis all of you 🙌🏽🙌🏽 thank you for the hard work 🫶
I don't like baseball, I like SHOTA!!!!
Luis Gil getting it done 💪🏼 man making the most of Cole’s injury he’s being great.
100%!
Sandoval seems to be tunneling like an expert on the outside of the plate in these clips, juggling that change that turns into a ball (Ks swinging and weak contact), and cutters that do the opposite and break back in late (Ks looking and weak contact). That makes eyes go out there. Then he blasts a his flatter 97 on the inner half that is unhittable after playing spin the bottle out with the outside black. It's a recipe for success.
love these! it would really help if you put the pitcher's line as they come (IP ER and Ks) as you say them as its hard to focus on the numbers and beauty of the pitches at the same time. thank you!!
I don't disagree but it's too tough to do a recap of every game every morning and add more text etc...while getting the videos out timely. They already run later than we want and I start on this at 6:30am every day.
song? 5:55
ruclips.net/video/GbpnAGajyMc/видео.htmlsi=AUvBds6dBp0IKs6o
Ive learned how to beat vegas take over on ks for any pitcher against mariners its foolproof
Time stamps please🙏
❤Shota❤
Why would anyone say a no hitter alert before a game even starts 😑
Think DeRo hit the nail on the head saying the guy got the Pujols 700 home run call on the money and now he just throwing things out there 🤦🏻♂️ the Albert shout was unbelievable but he will be known more for this type of crap he keeps it up.
I wish they would have said "coiling a deuce" on the plate.
He's got X factor too. Swagger
I think one over looked aspect of Shots is being a lefty, especially a lefty with a splitter.
My theory why his fastball is so effective besides the obvious induced vertical breakkor lack thereof, is its plane. Im just guessing on numbers, but lets call a ball with no break, that comes over the plate perfectly parallel to the plate 0°, Shota's fastball comes in at say 5° angle from perfectly parallel, while most batters swing on a 10° or higher plane to the plate. This mis match in swing angle vs incoming ball angle is tough for hitters and a difficult adjustment for most hitters to make.(Again these numbers are arbitrary vut the concept is valid) I do think guys like Luis Arraez, who can easily modify their swing plane will have the most success against Shota.
Look at the HR he gave up yesterday, it was a good splitter with an awkward swing that was in my opinion a lucky barrel...if Shota keeps executing like he has, I do think he will continue to be successful...of course the current level of success is unfortunately not sustainable.
100% agree. That was part of the point I tried to make re his release height combined with the IVB. It intersects with the swing path for a very short time. And it's probably also why most analysts whiffed at how effective he would be in MLB!
I know he just gave up his first run of the season, but can we start talking about Kirby Yates? Best part of the rangers bullpen
shhh, don't give away his secrets!
I'm not sure anyone can even copy it! He's doing some unique stuff there
Even if you teach better or newer stuff, they will revert back to their old ways. If someone does stick with it and master it, they probably deserve the knowledge you gave.
When you say Shota keeps his fingers bent for his fastball grip. Can you explain a little more? Is it the second knuckle that's bent or at the tips?
The way he described it was slightly bent at the knuckles. I should be interviewing him soon (just waiting for the Cubs to finally set it up) and I'll get a precise explanation!
@PitchingNinjaVideos thanks ninja! I grabbed a baseball while watching that and couldn't quite figure it out. Seems like it should be the middle knuckles, but either way, I'm real curious and looking forward to it. Really appreciate all the amazing content and hard work that goes into it. Long Live Ninja.
Shota Imanaga has the lowest ERA in the major leageus at 1.08. If ya count folks that have made every start, I believe that is correct, but Sonny Gray has a .89 currently. Not to speak ill of Shota. Man can pitch.
Sonny isn't "qualified" for the ERA lead (inning for every team's games). He likely will be after today.
@@PitchingNinjaVideos Thanks for the clarification. I suspected it was something along those lines.
The Cubs have 2 ace level pitchers. The lefty Arrietta and Lester if you will.
9:20
Nasty!! Dropping deuces on the outside part of the plate should be an automatic forfeit of the game and a fine of ten dollars. At least. ⚾
Nah, it's all about the Ninja
今永波に乗っているにワロタ！
GO CUBBIES🎉🎉
Shota Will get exposed midseason!!
So you'll be crying for a couple more months 😂
Dodgers fan moment.
yea but not like he will get permanently beaten and be out of the league with an ERA over 6.00 like cmon noww......yea sure he may finosh 14-10 with an ERA of 3.4 and thats totally fine.
@@danr154 he can do better!! Cubs got a steal for 2 ,3 years
Doubtful..there's a few guys who can adjust their swing to match the fastball plane(like Arraez) but he is too smart and will make adjustments as the hitters make adjustments.
Look at the HR he gave up yesterday...it was what most would call a lucky hit on a ball below the zone, those are the kind of hits and HRs we will mostly give up.
I enjoy the fun voice in this channel, but I've had to stop watching the channel because the pitcher mentioned in the title is not the main subject. kinda clickbaity. and wastes my time.
Yamamoto>>imanaga
They're both throwing great.
They're both gona be great
Bring back Trevor Bauer