Shohei Ohtani
[Taro Abe, Tempe, Arizona]On the 24th, Shohei Ohtani (28) of the Angels hit an astounding 150-meter bullet in a free shot. With a flight distance of a different dimension, it easily crosses the right middle fence and hits the pickup truck bed in the adjacent parking lot directly. It landed on a sturdy board and didn’t destroy the car, but it was a mouthful to both teammates and the manager.
From the first set of the free skate, which I always try to hit lightly, the ball I swung lightly flew like a ping-pong ball. Otani’s bat, which raises his condition for the WBC, produced fence-overs one following another.
15 shots including 7 consecutive shots with 31 swings. What is surprising is the flight distance. In the 3rd shot of the 2nd set, which was 5 shots in 5 swings, the batted ball stretched to the right center and hit the pick-up truck of the team staff parked in the adjacent parking lot.
When the players and leaders saw the direction of the batted ball, they raised their voices of surprise. At the moment of the direct hit, Ohtani raised his hands up as if he had been hit. Estimated 150 meters. It was a big hit that easily surpassed the previous day’s 140-meter bullet.
He also threw it twice into the right-center direction of the parking lot, twice into the left-center palm tree, and twice into the right-field clubhouse roof. Phillips, who is new to the team this season, said, “Wow, what a power.”
Destructive enough to require “Otani Net” to protect cars. It’s no surprise that some people were worried regarding the car. A staff member of the team who owns the car that was hit by the ball said, “I’m glad it’s on a sturdy platform. We’ll park it in a different place tomorrow.” Manager Nevin said, “That was a great blow.
After that, Otani suddenly jumped into a minor league practice. In the “live BP” practice, which he voluntarily applied for, he stood 6 times at bat and confirmed the “live ball”. According to the team, it is explained that “to get used to the right-handed pitcher’s ball.” It’s regarding a week before Samurai Japan joins the team, and Ohtani is clearly accelerating his adjustments to the WBC.
