ANAHEIM, California. – There was a time in the Chicago White Sox-Los Angeles Angels game on Sunday that would have passed as an indescribable subtlety if it weren’t for the obvious restrictions that have come to define Major League Baseball. It was the start of the third entry. Shohei Ohtani made the final one in the second, a hard start in the middle field, so he quickly retreated to the dugout, dropped his helmet, grabbed his glove and ran back to the mound. As she walked over there, she noticed that the back pocket was hanging, so she hurriedly tucked it back in and tucked some of the t-shirt into her pants before stepping on the rubber to start warming up again. .
It felt like Little League.
Throughout the night, while Ohtani, 26, was doing what had not been done in 118 years, a similar buoyancy permeated.
Ohtani was going to throw and hit and let his talent shine without unnecessary restrictions. He then threw a 101 mph throw at the top of the first and hit a 115 mph throw at the bottom of the first, and it seemed like nothing else mattered. Baseball, even on the fourth night of the year, caused it all again, causing the kind of organic joy that can’t be duplicated with new rules or different baseballs.
The way he finished – with Ohtani limping off the pitch, his tender ankle left after absorbing a stab from White Sox first baseman Jose Abreu – was a fragile reminder of how fragile he could be.
Angels manager Joe Maddon has stressed since spring training that Ohtani is taking over his career and removing unnecessary restrictions.
“The rules are, there will be no rules,” Maddon said in February.
It paved the way for Sunday, the first time a pitcher beat the No. 2 seed in the lineup since 1903. And it was demonstrated by the way the top of the fifth inning was played, with Ohtani coming out. to face Yoan Moncada with loaded bases, hesitant command and tone count approaching the 90s.
The decision had nothing to do with keeping Ohtani’s bat in the lineup, considering he reached the final in the previous half. And it wasn’t the result of not having someone ready in the bullring, given the time Steve Cishek had been warming up. It was much simpler than that.
“Did you see the things he had?” Maddon asked, rhetorically, of course, after the Angels’ 7-4 victory.
Ohtani, certainly energized by the return of baseball fans, felt “very grateful” that Maddon would leave him longer than most other managers would have.
“I wanted to get out of the jam and show everyone that Joe’s decision was right,” Ohtani said through his interpreter, “but I couldn’t.”
If the Los Angeles catcher, Max Stassi, had corrected that divider that Moncada went through in the third strike, there would not have been a late throw at first base, which would not have caused Abreu to get ready and score the throw of ‘tie. they have left Ohtani in a vulnerable position while covering the motherboard.
Ohtani said he felt “good” after the match and added that the impact “was not as bad as it actually looked.”
The Angels won’t put him in training on Monday, but the incident doesn’t seem to make them any more hesitant to continue using him aggressively.
“Everything we thought it could be” was how Maddon described Ohtani throwing and hitting in the same game for the first time in his Major League career. “This is the complete baseball player: he throws 100, he touches a lot more than 100, he touches well over 400 feet. I mean we’ve been talking about that. I just needed the opportunity to do it … I think it’s he felt liberated, he felt free. He was out playing baseball. “
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Shohei Ohtani hits Yoan Moncada, but the ball hits the receiver and they score two runs after Ohtani is shaken by a collision on the plate.
Ohtani’s rare talent was best captured by this amazing first-in stats: his fast ball against Adam Eaton (officially at 100.6 mph) was the fastest pitch of any starting pitcher this season and his career of 451 feet in front of Dylan Cease (with an exit speed of 115.2 mph) was the most affected home run of the season by any player, according to ESPN statistics and information.
There aren’t many questions about Ohtani offensively. He hit .286 / .351 / .532 in 792 beach appearances from 2018 to 2019, and then shredded five homers in 13 spring training games in 2021. Concerns focus on the release of Ohtani. He had amassed just 79 2/3 innings since his stunning 2016 season in Japan, and many of his recent outings demonstrated his inability to throw shots consistently. Then came Sunday, which included …
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Eight launches released at least 100 mph, more than he had accumulated in 12 previous major league starts.
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Twice from Yermin Mercedes, who recorded eight record hits in his first eight bats of the season (one of them came out on three consecutive sliders, Ohtani’s third-best field).
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Four baserunners during the first four innings against a lineup that ranks among the best in the American League.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone so expert in both things,” White Sox coach Tony La Russa said before the game.
“Oh, it’s nasty,” White Sox man Leury Garcia later added.
Ohtani came from Japan with the promise of becoming the first two-way player in the sport since Babe Ruth stopped throwing, and then teased us with two exciting months in 2018. What followed was Tommy John’s surgery, a rare knee procedure and a 2020 nightmare that included an ERA of 37.80 and a baptism average of 0.154. Ohtani attacked next season on purpose. He trained on Driveline, renewed his diet, modified his weight training regimen, and entered more game-like situations in an effort to fix a delivery that had become inconsistent and a swing that was it had become irregular.
When he entered the field to debut with the release on Sunday, the excitement had reached fever. Maddon’s aggressive approach has propelled him, the dynamic spring of Ohtani has fueled him, and MLB can benefit from it. The industry has become obsessed with the desire to create more excitement and Ohtani can potentially create more than any other player. That’s why the answer to whether the Angels should try to use Ohtani as a two-way player was always “of course,” as long as he can stay healthy.
A talent like this should not be restrained.
The angels clearly agree.