shohei ohtani alert

it's a team sport

which consists 95% of moments of individual skill

this is one of the hardest hit balls I've ever seen

Ohtani to the MOON. 😳 pic.twitter.com/BeZ3Ek9gF6

— MLB (@MLB) July 10, 2021

fucking absurd man

I don't know about you but I cannot see the ball post-impact with Ohtani's bat. I think he hit it so hard it disintegrated into fucking quarks.

you can just briefly see it shoot straight up, it kind of looks like the 600-foot pop up from Major League

463 feet

It feels like he should be more talked about.

Not here, but in media generally.

watching so many people discover Giannis even though he's been 2x MVP kinda tells me you need some playoff success for that to happen

Thinking about DiMaggio's streak and Richard's 50 in 50, I have the feeling we used to have national conversations about specific athlete in a way we don't anymore? Maybe I'm wrong. But it seems conversations about sports are much more macro and/or focused on the past (how much can we still create content around Michael Jordan, I'm certain more people are aware of Jeter than of Trout or Ohtani).

tom pagnozzi

haha, mais encore?

...

matt pagnozzi :(

ohtani is the first player to be named AL Player of the month in back to back months (June and July) since josh hamilton in 2012

40 HR, 2.79 ERA

Angels are still .500 though

that’s fucking crazy

this season is historic

Orange County doesn’t deserve this dude

i honestly would never have expected him to have a season like this. just did not think this was possible.

well it's never been done before!

What a joy this guy is

he's on pace to make the top 10 single season WAR list, which is basically all guys like Babe Ruth and Barry Bonds, plus those insane Yaz & Hornsby seasons

there are a bunch of guys having monster seasons and he’s 2 wins ahead of them

even though ppl, like, intuitively understand this, it's still an under discussed story that the angels have had one of the greatest baseball players in 100+ years on their team for a decade, and now have an international superstar putting up one of the greatest seasons in 100+ years... and still LITERALLY CANNOT MAKE THE PLAYOFFS MORE THAN ONE TIME!!! you can make a very reasonable argument that this fact alone has contributed to baseball's decline as a national interest and cultural phenomenon. you could also make a very reasonable argument that it's in the best interest of baseball to forcibly remove arte moreno as owner and find someone who could maybe run a franchise in LA w/ 2 of the best players in baseball and get them into the playoffs, like, one time before the world implodes. it's not asking for much!

its a uniquely frustrating scenario...idk if the Angels ownership/management just sucks but I can't really point to a single thing they've done over the last decade that's worked, outside of maybe the trade for Andrelton Simmons. they also happened to grab those two players during the years where they knew Pujols was gonna be an albatross - they signed him knowing full well that they were likely going to be punting the last 4-5 years. they've also had a lot of bad luck - Trout's hurt, Rendon's hurt, they just cannot seem to develop a decent pitcher who doesn't overdose on fentanyl. its a shitty situation and I agree its bad for the game.

they give big free agent contracts to older and/or injury prone players and rarely have homegrown talent, it's a really bad mix that comes from the top down. josh hamilton contract was a disaster, rendon contract isn't looking much better. they haven't had a good pitcher since like jered weaver. it's just a poorly run franchise.

they actually have some younger talent now... jo adell has looked good recently, brandon marsh is a top 50 prospect tho he flopped after being called up. reid detmers is finally a pitching prospect they have. if they had a healthy trout, rendon, ohtani, plus a good season from adell, and made some additions, found some pitchers.... it's still so many ifs. and trout is at the point now where he's prob more of a 130-140 game player -- at best -- than a 160 or 180 game player. the fact that they're 5.5 games worse than the mariners this year is insane.

it’s a team sport

i wonder if any other team's management would have done anything differently about the "pujols problem", especially the 2017-now version of the problem. i guess it's easier said than done to bench him, because he truly always believes he's about to turn the corner and is vocal about it. i guess they just couldn't face the spectacle of releasing him years early and eating the cost?

i mean, i think the marlins would have done something drastic for some reason. and the padres. although they haven't exactly done anything about their "eric hosmer problem"

how many other teams would have even signed a stupid contract like that? I mean I guess I'll cut them some slack because 2009-2012 was like the prime era for teams giving fat contracts to fat players, despite the fact that IT HAS LITERALLY NEVER WORKED OUT A SINGLE TIME. to his credit Pujols has not been downright awful since that 2017 season but I still can't believe they didn't find some way to engineer a trade to some bad team that needs to get fans in the door. even if they had to eat like $80 mil

how many other teams would have even signed a stupid contract like that?

*stares in chris davis*

I think there are possible universes where the Chris Davis deal isn't awful, the Pujols one was just so doomed from the start. The only way it makes sense is if the Angels were a slugger away from being a championship team which they definitely were not

one that comes to mind that is definitely worse is Ryan Howard, sure it's a lot less money but also possibly the dumbest, most guaranteed-to-fail contract I've ever seen in pro sports. and it somehow turned out even worse than anyone could've imagined

Yeah, definitely universes where the Davis deal wasn't as bad as it was, not sure there are universes where it was good, I guess maybe if the Orioles don't bring in Ubaldo in the 2016 WC game and win a pennant or WC with Davis contributing before the real decline kicks in?

when the angels signed pujols he was turning 32 and had hit .328/.420/.617 over 11 seasons

when the orioles extended davis he was turning 30 and had hit .255/.330/.506 over eight seasons

the davis contract only went through his age-36 season, so that's a huge plus. but also he just wasn't that good -- and the orioles had seen how it might go in 2014 when he hit .196/.300/.404. i mean both contracts are terrible, but if you're gonna dream on a guy beating the aging curve you might as well go with the one who was the greatest hitter of his generation

yeah, davis was very much a limited skill, adam dunn* kind of player

*and wasn't nearly as consistent as adam dunn, it turns out

holy cow I had no idea Davis's OBP was only .330, yeah that contract might be worse in retrospect

i mean both contracts are terrible, but if you're gonna dream on a guy beating the aging curve you might as well go with the one who was the greatest hitter of his generation

true but I still think it was fairly unlikely that Davis would be downright unplayable for 5 years of that deal, for Pujols it feels like that was one of the most likely outcomes. I can't argue it's one of the worst contracts ever because there have been so many bad ones but none of them involve paying a guy $24 million when he's 42

shit he just got hit in the right hand by a pitch

does not look great

Shohei Ohtani is the first American League pitcher to be intentionally walked since Jim Katt in 1970

homer and two walks yesterday, but got shelled on the mound

somehow i always miss his pitching days. when he's out of the game as a pitcher, does he switch to DH, keeping his spot in the batting order and taking whoever replaced pujols out of the lineup, i guess? or do they just take him out of the game completely at that point?

they don't get a DH

although it *kind* of seems like you should be able to use the DH on a non-pitcher if you want? (you cannot, by rule)

Guess who started Ohtani in the fantasy playoffs yesterday!! :((

maddon has several times shifted ohtani to the outfield when he's done pitching, but not last night

0-5 tonight…the guy could really use some time off

Ohtani giving CPR to his dead bat pic.twitter.com/aFoZbMw4sG

— Every Shohei Ohtani Highlight (@ohtanimoments) April 12, 2022

while looking up bobby witt jr's sprint and home to first speeds to see how how fast he is (A: very fast), i unexpectedly found OHTANI at the top of the 2022 leaderboard for fastest from home to first! 4.06 seconds. i was shocked, because his sprint speed (27.6 ft/s this year, 28.8 last year)is more 70th percentile. and not a fluke, either - in 2021 ohtani ranked 5th for home to first, with 4.05 seconds.

impressive - he must kick up into his highest gear much more quickly than the competition

When he retires, if I'm still alive--50/50?--I'll think "I really didn't appreciate that guy while he was playing." Because honestly, I get a little tired of reading about his every waking movement.

He pitched great today: 7 shutout innings, 6 H/0 BB/11 K. MLB.com (not at all atypical of the way they cover him): "Stop us if you've heard this one: Shohei Ohtani did something nobody has since the Great Bambino."

What he did: "Hitting third and making his first start on the mound at Fenway Park, Ohtani became the first starting pitcher to bat in one of the top four spots in a game at the historic ballpark since Babe Ruth did so on Sept. 20, 1919."

Translation, if you feel his two-way abilities have already been duly recognized (and rewarded): "He played."

Feel like there needs to be a thread “Clemenza vs MLB.com headlines”

what about my "fastest from home to first base" tidbit, though? now THAT's what i'm talking about

First career grand slam tonight. And another HR too

You're too kind but it's appreciated nonetheless.

May all your tacos come in 10s :)

ah... such simpler times...

!!!!! Just realized I met Shohei's translator a long time ago when he was a fresh faced Red Sox employee... let me go dig up a picture lol.

― citation needed (Steve Shasta), Friday, December 8, 2023 3:44 PM (four months ago)

You met Ippei? Wow!

― mojo dojo casas house (gyac), Friday, December 8, 2023 3:47 PM (four months ago)

I can't find it (my flickr account is now paywalled?). I sat next to him and Hideki Okajima at a sushi bar in SF when the Red Sox were in town to face the A's.

― citation needed (Steve Shasta), Friday, December 8, 2023 3:55 PM (four months ago)

We've since learned that Ippei was only Okajima's translator for his short (and unfruitful) Spring Training stint with the Yankees which means the interpreter I met when Okajima was with the Red Sox was Ryo Shinkawa...

At any rate, here is a picture of Okajima's signature on MY translator lol, my trusty Sharp PW-SH4 which was a constant companion in my oversees biz journeys when an interpreter was unavailable.

https://i.imgur.com/jPik9IE.png

You met Ippei? Wow!

― mojo dojo casas house (gyac), Friday, December 8, 2023 3:47 PM (four months ago)

lmaooooo

We are all Ippei

Wrong Ippei address.

btw I don't think flickr is paywalled. But I seem to remember they did do something funky a while back that required going in and adjusting settings if you want any of your photos to be public.

Yeah, I couldn't find that pic when I first searched flickr but I was able to find it when I searched by year and location: 2008 @ Sakana Sushi

I saw Okajima pitch (LOOGy) the following year @ Fenway...

YOUR baseball photos thread