Defeat Italy! Heading for world domination! Shohei Ohtani and Nutobar rewrite the WBC legend!

The archipelago is abuzz with excitement over Nippon’s success, and two Samurai are leading the team to its first world championship in three tournaments. One is Lars Nutobar (25), the first Japanese-American to represent Japan.

His batting average was .228 last season, and some questioned his invitation, but Nachi Tomonari, a sportswriter with 30 years of experience covering the majors, asserted, “He is the missing piece of the Japanese team.

The reason his batting average is low is because he has grown rapidly since the middle of the season. He is the type of player who doesn’t hit the ball too soon and waits for pitches to be thrown out, so his on-base percentage is high. He is the type of player who doesn’t hit the ball too soon and waits for pitches to be thrown out. His power is also perfect, and his slugging percentage in the second half of last season was one every eight at bats, surpassing that of Shohei Ohtani (28). Noteworthy is his defensive ability; since August, his defense has prevented the Cardinals from scoring four runs. He is a master of the diving catch, which he proved in the first round. He has a strong shoulder and is accurate with his delivery. He has 6 catches via the infield. The outfielders Kensuke Kondo (29) and Masanao Yoshida (29), with their weak shoulders and narrow defensive range, were a weak point of the Samurai Japan team, but this has been resolved with Nutobar in center.

He is an avid researcher, and studied the Japanese style of cheering using narimonos (musical instruments) before coming to Japan. He is an avid researcher and studied the Japanese style of cheering before coming to Japan. It’s fun! Nutobar, who is in a groove, was a complete star in the first round with a .429 batting average and a .579 on-base percentage.

He has a 5% swinging strike rate on fastballs, but a 40% swinging strike rate on off-timing pitches such as curves and change-ups. I don’t touch them much. The American and Dominican starters they will face in the semifinals and beyond have almost no power pitchers who mainly throw hard fastballs. How will this play out?

Otani has dispelled some of these concerns, batting .500 with eight runs batted in and one win in the first round, but Taku Kawamura, an associate professor at Tsukuba University, believes that he is still in the adjustment stage.

He is not hitting the ball well,” said Taku Kawamura, associate professor at Tsukuba University, “and he is pulling the ball a bit and not hitting it at a good angle. But this is because he has not had much real competition so far and has not been able to hit live pitches. Perhaps he is gradually improving his game, setting his sights on the semifinals and beyond. What caught my attention was that his swing has become more vertical. After the semifinals, when you face pitchers who pitch in the majors, you are likely to get a lot of low, down pitches. That’s when this Ohtani player’s batting should shine.”

Pitcher Ohtani is doing well.

The slider that he threw a lot against China in the first round, the so-called “slider cut,” is a very scary ball for hitters. It has speed, and right-handed hitters think it is coming toward them, but it turns sharply. To a left-handed batter, it looks like a ball pitch, but it is in the strike zone with a sizzle. It is not easy to catch it,” Kawamura said.

He greeted the entire staff himself. He greeted all the staff members with his own greeting and overacting, including a pistol pose, saying, “Shohei has been Americanized! and “Shohei is being Americanized!” He is always ready to make adjustments while putting the team at ease and doing a top-notch job at the critical moment. His appearance is reminiscent of Ichiro (49), the man who helped win back-to-back WBC titles. The legend is about to be rewritten.

From the March 31 and April 7, 2023 issues of FRIDAY