Pedro Martinez Tells Shohei Ohtani What We’re All Thinking
I know the World Baseball Classic isn’t exactly everyone’s cup of tea (especially not when major players like Edwin Diaz and Jose Altuve are getting seriously injured in a pre-season exhibition tournament). But I sure hope you tuned in last night.
Team Japan took on Team USA in the championship, and it came down to Shohei Ohtani vs. Mike Trout in an absolutely made-for-Hollywood moment: 9th inning, one-run game, two outs, full-count and the two greatest living baseball players facing off on the international stage.
Here’s the full plate appearance, in case you missed it.
Spoiler alert: Shohei Ohtani struck out Mike Trout swinging. In fact, he made Trout swing and miss three times during the at bat. Which, according to the @CodifyBaseball Twitter account (a must-follow for baseball fans), has happened only 24(!) times in Mike Trout’s 6,174 career MLB plate appearances.
24 times. That’s absurd. Truly.
And it didn’t go unnoticed.
After the game, one of the greatest pitchers of all-time, Pedro Martinez, laid it on THICK for Shohei Ohtani. This is a huge compliment coming from a first-ballot Hall-of-Famer like Pedro.
Here’s the quote: “On behalf of baseball, for all the fans, from all the players, from all of us that know baseball…We want to thank you. For the effort. For the discipline. For everything you have done for baseball. And for what you represent for baseball. I just want to personally thank [You] for all you do. All you do. We are really proud and thankful and grateful for what you do. You are a special human being. So we want to thank you and recognize you.”
Chills.
