Amazing to watch, at least until some body part will invariably fall off.

I hope that wasn't a 3-0 pitch

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

This is the one people have been jawdropped about. Pulling a shoulder high fastball into the seats is really impressive.

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The craziest stat I saw was that he has the most extra-base hits as a batter, and the fewest extra-base hits allowed as a (qualified) starting pitcher.

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I would take Abreu over him if I were starting a team

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

He also has the most unhittable pitch in mlb this year

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Plus 2 more bombs tonight so first player to hit 30...

As someone promoted and playing as this generations Babe Ruth, Ohtani is severely underpaid in todays market. Especially this year playing at MVP candidate level, Ohtani has a base salary of $3 Million with the Los Angeles Angels. I am sure he earns 10x as much via endorsements especially in his home country of Japan where he is a national hero but should be compensated more equitably in MLB for his potential and what he brings (lots of eyeballs watching = $$$) to the sport of baseball as a whole.

2021 Salary = $3,000,000
2022 Salary = $5,500,000
2023 = Arbitration Year
2024 = Unrestricted Free Agent



https://www.spotrac.com/mlb/los-angeles ... ani-24661/

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"You know 'that look' women get when they want sex? Me neither" ~Steve Martin

Not shown in those numbers is how much the Angels had to pay his Japanese club to post him. I'm pretty sure it was low to mid-8-figures.

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

Money wasn't a primary motivation for Ohtani. He came over under the international pool system knowing teams are limited in how much they can pay. If he had waited a year he could have come over as a free-agent. We didn't even have the most international money to offer him. It even created quite a bit of controversy at the time because the teams that cleared more international cap space couldn't believe he signed for less and they were bitching about it (and some still are). I imagine they are working on an early deal like they did Trout in 2014.

The posting fee on Ohtani was 20 million.

Don't see too many get up there...

If Ohtani would pitch more, he'd set the all time WAR record.

This is a truly amazing performance. And it puts to rest a lot of the negative stereotypes about Asian ballplayers.

Of course, the one night I was able to sit down in a hotel room with some carry out food and a beer and watch him pitch... that was the Yankees outing. Oops.

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

are there negative stereotypes about asian players, other than the pitchers come to MLB with a lot of mileage?

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

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And that hitters cannot adjust to MLB level pitching, especially fastball speed.

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

He's had problems with blistering so they've been trying to manage it. I wondered if it was caused by the raised seams in the balls we use compared to the ones they use in Japan.

He had to make adjustments as well and it was interesting to watch. He came over with the big front leg kick that a lot of Asian players have but he accepted the instruction and made the switch to the slight toe tap. He went back and forth for awhile and you could see he was working it out and realized with the increased velocity here the leg kick wasn't going to work.

is that really a stereotype

I think there is a recognition that MLB is a very significant step up in competition.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Note the leg kick. He tried to keep it when he first came over but was smart enough to realize it wasn't going to work here.

It should be Stassi for all of his starts. Suzuki looks like a rodeo clown behind the dish. Ohtani has control issues at times you can't have Suzuki back there lunging at balls. Plus he can't frame a pitch. It looks like he's breaking in a new glove the way the ball is always popping out. He's awful. The only thing he can do is throw runners out.

Would that have left the ballpark, or would it have been a mile high fly out. Or perhaps a towering line drive!

INCREDIBLE camera work there!

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Ohtani hit #32 today and we took the series against the Red Sox. It could get interesting when Trout, Rendon, and Upton come back after the break. We're going to need some pitching though...

It's a shame they don't have many prospects (Adell doesn't count any more) or else Merlot Joe would have a case to pry Kyle Hendricks from the Cubs.

Can we interest Joe in Trevor Williams in exchange for four Disneyland passes for every Cub minor leaguer?

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

Amazing season, still think Vlad deserves mvp

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We should of had both of them. Senior was still living in Anaheim and wanted Jr. to sign with us. We knew he was coming but Dipoto signed a bum ass Cuban shortstop (Roberto Baldoquin) the previous season. He paid this clown so much it blew thru our pool money to the point we got a penalty and couldn't even sign an international player the next season when Junior came out.

If Junior wins the triple crown I agree with you. If Ohatani leads the league in home runs and continues to pitch like a frontline starter its got to be him.

Yeah that was a bomb...467 seems a bit light.

Yep. Plus Ippei is his personal home run derby catcher. He could probably do a better job than Kurt Suzuki in the games.

Ohtani pitched another gem and Maddon came within a foot of blowing it. Marquez thew over to 1st 3 times and Ohtani still took the base.