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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.
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.
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.
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.
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...
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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
“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!
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.
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 👍⚾️
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.
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
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! 😜
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.
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
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
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.
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.
Please please please react to “The Greatest Athlete in the World 大谷翔平“ by Baseball Doesn’t Exist. It puts into perspective just how miraculous Ohtani actually is! He’s a unicorn, for sure!
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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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.
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.
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 😉
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim,or LAA (California) only signed Ohtani to only a 1-year deal.Now he will be the number 1 free agent,or (available player)... again that any teams with a BIG PAYROLL will be bidding for "The Unicorn" of American Pro Baseball.Teams with BIG MONEY payroll👉 (LA)Angels,LA Dodgers, Chicago Cubs,Boston Red Sox,New York Yankees,San Diego Padres,and Philadelphia Phillies ⚾
You hear that crowd reaction?? Shohei and the Angels were playing in the OPPOSING team's home stadium. Yeah, he's once in a lifetime and every baseball fan knows it.
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.
To answer your question about whether knowing he hit a home run or not is normal, yes, hitters who hit for serious power usually know when they hit the ball solidly enough for it to leave the field. But no, none of what THIS guy is doing is normal, because he's doing it at that level both as a hitter AND a pitcher. Hasn't been seen in 100 years. Not since Babe Ruth.
Baseball is about scoring runs and keeping the other guy from scoring. And you keep people from scoring by not letting them get hits when there are men in scoring position (2nd and 3rd base). Well Shohei is both a batter and a pitcher, and it turns out he is the best batter at hitting when runners are in scoring position, and also preventing hits as a pitcher when opposing batters have runners in scoring position. Not just GOOD at both - the best at both. The two most important skills - he's the best at. The other skills - running and defense? Well, he won't likely play defense because of his unicorniness, but he has the athleticism to be a very good outfielder. And as for running - he is in the top 5 or 10 of all baserunners.
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.
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
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)
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.
To explai how rare it is to have someone so good at pitching and hitting…pitchers aren’t even allowed to bat anymore. They are so bad. Shohei is the only pitcher allowed to bat and there’s even a special rule called the Ohtani Rule in regards to this now that was implemented last year.
Hey fellas, just want to tell you how much of a kick I've gotten out of watching your videos-especially baseball. On behalf of a lot of us American baseball fans, thank you for giving our game a chance. Along with soccer, I think baseball is the greatest sport there is and something I've always felt the Brits could get into if they really gave it a go. There's so much going on under the surface and when you can appreciate the game, it's like nothing else.
Thank you for the support, great you’re enjoying the content! No problem, we’ve really enjoyed this journey so far, and it’s only just beginning too. Excited by how much more is to come
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
A banger boys. You've just seen the Mike Tyson of baseball. He intimidates every player he faces. I cannot imagine standing in and trying to get a hit off of this guy. In baseball you have to have an unwavering belief in yourself. Anything less, and you can easily be made to look and feel foolish out there. Baseball players have their psychologist on speed dial. 😆😆⚾⚾
even i was a doubter of ohtani's performance at the highest level doing both jobs. after this coming season, ohtani will be a free agent meaning he can go wherever he wants, team wise and i'd say theres a strong chance of him having multiple offers of $500 million+ on the table from teams who want him. if he stays with the Angels he'll never win a ring so i really hope he goes somewhere he can get some postseason play.
Yay! My favorite team & my favorite player! Don’t forget to check out his teammate ,Mike Trout, who is also one of the best players in the league. Both “Showtime” Ohtani & Mike Trout will be counted among the best of all time. They’re anomalies with their crazy talent. This short video explains how Shohei is the first two-way player in 100 years. ua-cam.com/video/C10lxcVIE4E/v-deo.html
And still the Angels haven't managed to make the playoffs, with the modern Mickey Mantle and the modern Babe Ruth on their team. It's really mind-boggling.
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 🤞
at 4:10 it wasn't that it's intentional that he hit the ball to the fielder and made an out, but rather, that it's not the worst result, because at least by hitting it to the outfield there's time for the runner to score. If he hit a ground ball that got intercepted by an infielder, or if he struck out, the runner couldn't have scored. And yeah, as others have said, this is like scoring a hat trick one game and going in goal the next game and keeping a clean sheet. Also, while 8 RBI in one night is remarkable, but a lot of the credit goes to his teammates for being on base when he came up to bat. If nobody's on base, you can't get more than 1 RBI from the at-bat and that's only if you hit a home run. If three people are on base, then that same home run is worth 4 RBI, since not only do you score but so do all three runners. The major league record for RBI in a game is 12, but what's even more remarkable is that Fernando Tatis once set a record with 8 RBI in one INNING: he came up to bat twice, with the bases loaded each time, and hit a home run both times. That'll be a hard record to break, given only five players in major league history have even come to bat three times in one inning, which would be required to get more than 8 RBI. All of which is to say that the RBI is not the best stat for measuring this sort of thing. My favorite measure for keeping track of a player's value to a team is Wins Above Replacement, which attempts to measure how many wins, on average, a player's team would have over the course of a season with their performance as opposed to the performance you would expect from an average player who might be called up from the reserve teams. League average for players in the starting lineup as a hitter, or starting rotation as a pitcher, is about 2.0. A 5-win season is generally enough to make the all-star team. In 2021, Shohei Ohtani had 4.9 WAR as a hitter *and* 4.1 WAR as a pitcher -- and the combined total of 9.0 was the most in the majors, with second place having only 7.6. In 2022, Shohei's hitting regressed a bit -- only 3.6 WAR -- but he took a step up as a pitcher, registering 6.2 WAR. His 9.8 total WAR would probably have led the league most years, and was eclipsed only by Aaron Judge having an all-time great season with 10.6 WAR (Judge hit 62 home runs, a mark only reached by three other players, all three of whom turned out to have been using now-banned steroids.) So yeah, there aren't a lot of players who can even play at a replacement level as both pitcher and hitter, much less at all-star level, and that's why Ohtani won MVP in 2021.
You touched on the historical significance a bit, but (especially because history is such a big part of the fun of baseball) I really want to emphasize how completely unheard of and unique he is. He's doing something nobody's even tried before. I honestly don't think Babe Ruth is the best comparison, I think it's Bo Jackson being selected for the All-Star game in both the MLB and NFL in the same season. Babe Ruth was a Hall of Fame caliber pitcher before he became the greatest power hitter of all time (there were seasons Ruth hit more home runs than any other TEAM did) - and even he didn't try to be a full-time pitcher and hitter at the same time. Nobody's even attempted to do both simultaneously in MLB before - there have been a handful of players in the Negro League and in the Japanese league in the 40's, the most successful of which was Bullet Rogan, who's in the Hall of Fame, and I think these only happened because those were (wrongfully) considered "minor" leagues at the time. It's not unheard of for there to be two-way players in college - these guys are usually the best of the best, surefire future professionals. But they always have to choose between being a position player or a pitcher when they enter the minor leagues - for over a hundred years it's never even been a thought that somebody could handle the workload of doing both. When Ohtani came to America, the word was that most teams interested in him were going to make him be a one-way player, but he was only willing to sign with a team that would let him try to do both.
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.
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.
Answers: Do hitters know immeidately when they've hit a home run? Yes, experienced hitters do. Not all of them watch them like Ohtani did on those two, and it's always funny to see the rare times that a player showboats a home run that ends up falling short. One other bit of context about Ohtani that is important: You mentioned Babe Ruth, who is the only other notable player to both pitch and hit successfully in the major leagues, but Ruth played in an era where the talent disparity was severe and he was just clearly better than everyone else. On top of that, Ruth only actually pitched for a few years, and his best years as a hitter came after he stopped pitching. Ohtani is really the only player to ever do this. It was bold of the Angels, as well as of the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters (his pro team in Japan before going to the Angels), to take a chance on letting him do both, as many teams probably would have pushed him to do one or the other.
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
@@DNReacts It really is! Like in the 100+ yrs of history of MLB it hasn't been attempted in decades, and not even Ruth did both well at the same time. Babe Ruth started as a pitcher and then switched to being a 1B - but only had a couple yrs of overlap as both and was NOT close to Ohtani when he did both, though he definitely was at one point an ace pitcher and later after he switched to a full time hitter he ended up being top 3 hitter minimum. But w/ the overall advancements in sports science and with more specialization in the modern game this is just unfathomable. The stuff he's doing there would be no mechanics to do so in video games, b/c in many games you couldn't have a player play both, like if a plaeyr is listed as a pitcher most of the time it wouldn't register in the game as a hitter lmao
Japans Babe Ruth, but he’s actually dominating at pitching as well. The kid is an absolute stud. Pitching with no rest, as he plays as a DH. The mental fortitude of this kid is incredible. However he’s on a team with Trout and that’s really it if Angela make a play to truly make a run at the AL west those two players can lead the team to the chipper. The manager in that situation will need to manage Show’s play time cause the series’s to get there can be draining for a pitcher or fielder alone.
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
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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.
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.
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.
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.
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...
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.
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
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
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!
The hat is a tribute to original Angels owner old time singing cowboy Gene Autry.
Yes! Absolutely!👍⚾Happy Trails Gene🙏
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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
He also has great running ability. Literally, an all-rounder.
“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!
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
It took a 100yrs to have another player hit as good as he pitches in MLB. That's what makes Shohei Ohtani so special.
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 .
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 😂
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.
You should check out Shohei in the Home Run Derby. Absolute Chaos
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! 😜
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.
Reacting to the 2022 highlights of Shohei Ohtani would be a great one to watch next!!!
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.
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
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
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.
Shohei is a living legend!
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.
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.
Please please please react to “The Greatest Athlete in the World 大谷翔平“ by Baseball Doesn’t Exist. It puts into perspective just how miraculous Ohtani actually is! He’s a unicorn, for sure!
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.
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.
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!
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.
Shohei's WBC highlights from this year should be a fun watch after the tournament finishes
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.
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.
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.
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Watch his 2021 mvp highlights
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.
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.
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.
If you liked the way he knows he hit the home run or his demeanor, check out the best bat flips.
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 😉
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!
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.
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.
this is cool watching people getting into a new sport for themselves
We are really enjoying it!
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.
If the pitch is outside the strike zone (the box) and the batter swings, it’s still considered a strike.
Cal Ripken Jr. I still think is one of best players ever. Ohtani is good be no one will ever play as long as Cal did
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.
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
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim,or LAA (California) only signed Ohtani to only a 1-year deal.Now he will be the number 1 free agent,or (available player)... again that any teams with a BIG PAYROLL will be bidding for "The Unicorn" of American Pro Baseball.Teams with BIG MONEY payroll👉 (LA)Angels,LA Dodgers, Chicago Cubs,Boston Red Sox,New York Yankees,San Diego Padres,and Philadelphia Phillies ⚾
You hear that crowd reaction?? Shohei and the Angels were playing in the OPPOSING team's home stadium. Yeah, he's once in a lifetime and every baseball fan knows it.
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.
To answer your question about whether knowing he hit a home run or not is normal, yes, hitters who hit for serious power usually know when they hit the ball solidly enough for it to leave the field. But no, none of what THIS guy is doing is normal, because he's doing it at that level both as a hitter AND a pitcher. Hasn't been seen in 100 years. Not since Babe Ruth.
Baseball is about scoring runs and keeping the other guy from scoring. And you keep people from scoring by not letting them get hits when there are men in scoring position (2nd and 3rd base). Well Shohei is both a batter and a pitcher, and it turns out he is the best batter at hitting when runners are in scoring position, and also preventing hits as a pitcher when opposing batters have runners in scoring position. Not just GOOD at both - the best at both. The two most important skills - he's the best at. The other skills - running and defense? Well, he won't likely play defense because of his unicorniness, but he has the athleticism to be a very good outfielder. And as for running - he is in the top 5 or 10 of all baserunners.
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.
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
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)
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.
To explai how rare it is to have someone so good at pitching and hitting…pitchers aren’t even allowed to bat anymore. They are so bad. Shohei is the only pitcher allowed to bat and there’s even a special rule called the Ohtani Rule in regards to this now that was implemented last year.
Hey fellas, just want to tell you how much of a kick I've gotten out of watching your videos-especially baseball. On behalf of a lot of us American baseball fans, thank you for giving our game a chance. Along with soccer, I think baseball is the greatest sport there is and something I've always felt the Brits could get into if they really gave it a go. There's so much going on under the surface and when you can appreciate the game, it's like nothing else.
Thank you for the support, great you’re enjoying the content! No problem, we’ve really enjoyed this journey so far, and it’s only just beginning too. Excited by how much more is to come
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.
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
If Japan wins tonight, Ohtani will be pitching tomorrow against team USA in the finals.
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.
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.
Ohtani is the most impressive baseball player to ever exist.
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.
The reason all those strikeouts are on breaking balls too is because he throws 100 so you gotta be ready up there lol
A banger boys. You've just seen the Mike Tyson of baseball. He intimidates every player he faces. I cannot imagine standing in and trying to get a hit off of this guy. In baseball you have to have an unwavering belief in yourself. Anything less, and you can easily be made to look and feel foolish out there. Baseball players have their psychologist on speed dial. 😆😆⚾⚾
Appreciate it! Glad you enjoyed it, this guy is a beast!
even i was a doubter of ohtani's performance at the highest level doing both jobs. after this coming season, ohtani will be a free agent meaning he can go wherever he wants, team wise and i'd say theres a strong chance of him having multiple offers of $500 million+ on the table from teams who want him. if he stays with the Angels he'll never win a ring so i really hope he goes somewhere he can get some postseason play.
Shohei Ohtani is the greatest, what he’s doing no one else can follow up
He plays in the outfield every once in a while too
Yes- more Brits n baseballs = more better for baseball.
Yay! My favorite team & my favorite player! Don’t forget to check out his teammate ,Mike Trout, who is also one of the best players in the league. Both “Showtime” Ohtani & Mike Trout will be counted among the best of all time. They’re anomalies with their crazy talent. This short video explains how Shohei is the first two-way player in 100 years. ua-cam.com/video/C10lxcVIE4E/v-deo.html
And still the Angels haven't managed to make the playoffs, with the modern Mickey Mantle and the modern Babe Ruth on their team. It's really mind-boggling.
@@adamkoslin9302 100% agree. I don’t get it
Did you know Shohei is a fast runner too?
His swing is absolute perfection
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 🤞
at 4:10 it wasn't that it's intentional that he hit the ball to the fielder and made an out, but rather, that it's not the worst result, because at least by hitting it to the outfield there's time for the runner to score. If he hit a ground ball that got intercepted by an infielder, or if he struck out, the runner couldn't have scored.
And yeah, as others have said, this is like scoring a hat trick one game and going in goal the next game and keeping a clean sheet.
Also, while 8 RBI in one night is remarkable, but a lot of the credit goes to his teammates for being on base when he came up to bat. If nobody's on base, you can't get more than 1 RBI from the at-bat and that's only if you hit a home run. If three people are on base, then that same home run is worth 4 RBI, since not only do you score but so do all three runners. The major league record for RBI in a game is 12, but what's even more remarkable is that Fernando Tatis once set a record with 8 RBI in one INNING: he came up to bat twice, with the bases loaded each time, and hit a home run both times. That'll be a hard record to break, given only five players in major league history have even come to bat three times in one inning, which would be required to get more than 8 RBI.
All of which is to say that the RBI is not the best stat for measuring this sort of thing. My favorite measure for keeping track of a player's value to a team is Wins Above Replacement, which attempts to measure how many wins, on average, a player's team would have over the course of a season with their performance as opposed to the performance you would expect from an average player who might be called up from the reserve teams. League average for players in the starting lineup as a hitter, or starting rotation as a pitcher, is about 2.0. A 5-win season is generally enough to make the all-star team. In 2021, Shohei Ohtani had 4.9 WAR as a hitter *and* 4.1 WAR as a pitcher -- and the combined total of 9.0 was the most in the majors, with second place having only 7.6. In 2022, Shohei's hitting regressed a bit -- only 3.6 WAR -- but he took a step up as a pitcher, registering 6.2 WAR. His 9.8 total WAR would probably have led the league most years, and was eclipsed only by Aaron Judge having an all-time great season with 10.6 WAR (Judge hit 62 home runs, a mark only reached by three other players, all three of whom turned out to have been using now-banned steroids.)
So yeah, there aren't a lot of players who can even play at a replacement level as both pitcher and hitter, much less at all-star level, and that's why Ohtani won MVP in 2021.
Thanks for the comment! Loads of info in here 😀 appreciate the effort!
Rumor is his contract negotiation is STARTING at half a BILLION dollars.
That’s wild 😂
You touched on the historical significance a bit, but (especially because history is such a big part of the fun of baseball) I really want to emphasize how completely unheard of and unique he is. He's doing something nobody's even tried before. I honestly don't think Babe Ruth is the best comparison, I think it's Bo Jackson being selected for the All-Star game in both the MLB and NFL in the same season.
Babe Ruth was a Hall of Fame caliber pitcher before he became the greatest power hitter of all time (there were seasons Ruth hit more home runs than any other TEAM did) - and even he didn't try to be a full-time pitcher and hitter at the same time. Nobody's even attempted to do both simultaneously in MLB before - there have been a handful of players in the Negro League and in the Japanese league in the 40's, the most successful of which was Bullet Rogan, who's in the Hall of Fame, and I think these only happened because those were (wrongfully) considered "minor" leagues at the time.
It's not unheard of for there to be two-way players in college - these guys are usually the best of the best, surefire future professionals. But they always have to choose between being a position player or a pitcher when they enter the minor leagues - for over a hundred years it's never even been a thought that somebody could handle the workload of doing both. When Ohtani came to America, the word was that most teams interested in him were going to make him be a one-way player, but he was only willing to sign with a team that would let him try to do both.
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.
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!
It would be cool to see you guys react to the best throws/strongest arms in baseball or best defensive plays
Answers:
Do hitters know immeidately when they've hit a home run?
Yes, experienced hitters do. Not all of them watch them like Ohtani did on those two, and it's always funny to see the rare times that a player showboats a home run that ends up falling short.
One other bit of context about Ohtani that is important: You mentioned Babe Ruth, who is the only other notable player to both pitch and hit successfully in the major leagues, but Ruth played in an era where the talent disparity was severe and he was just clearly better than everyone else. On top of that, Ruth only actually pitched for a few years, and his best years as a hitter came after he stopped pitching. Ohtani is really the only player to ever do this. It was bold of the Angels, as well as of the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters (his pro team in Japan before going to the Angels), to take a chance on letting him do both, as many teams probably would have pushed him to do one or the other.
you should watch some trea turner highlights. he's one of the fastest players in the league and hits a lot of homers too
Thank you for the suggestion!
Maybe try a little bit of Randy Johnson now. He was "only" a pitcher, but what a freak!
Something like that
ua-cam.com/video/btLNBE5drAE/v-deo.html
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
Imagine if prime Manuel Neuer also scores as many goals as prime Lewandowski. That's Ohtani.
That’s crazy 😂
@@DNReacts It really is! Like in the 100+ yrs of history of MLB it hasn't been attempted in decades, and not even Ruth did both well at the same time. Babe Ruth started as a pitcher and then switched to being a 1B - but only had a couple yrs of overlap as both and was NOT close to Ohtani when he did both, though he definitely was at one point an ace pitcher and later after he switched to a full time hitter he ended up being top 3 hitter minimum.
But w/ the overall advancements in sports science and with more specialization in the modern game this is just unfathomable.
The stuff he's doing there would be no mechanics to do so in video games, b/c in many games you couldn't have a player play both, like if a plaeyr is listed as a pitcher most of the time it wouldn't register in the game as a hitter lmao
Japans Babe Ruth, but he’s actually dominating at pitching as well. The kid is an absolute stud. Pitching with no rest, as he plays as a DH. The mental fortitude of this kid is incredible.
However he’s on a team with Trout and that’s really it if Angela make a play to truly make a run at the AL west those two players can lead the team to the chipper.
The manager in that situation will need to manage Show’s play time cause the series’s to get there can be draining for a pitcher or fielder alone.
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!