{"id":2435,"date":"2016-11-14T08:54:09","date_gmt":"2016-11-14T08:54:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/createsly\/?p=2435"},"modified":"2016-11-14T08:54:09","modified_gmt":"2016-11-14T08:54:09","slug":"shohei-otani-watches-the-flight-of-his-ground-rule-double-during-an-exhibition-game-against-netherlands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themes.divulgetechnologies.com\/flicknclick\/demo\/2016\/11\/14\/shohei-otani-watches-the-flight-of-his-ground-rule-double-during-an-exhibition-game-against-netherlands\/","title":{"rendered":"Shohei Otani watches the flight of his ground-rule double"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)--sm Mt(0.8em)--sm canvas-atom\" data-type=\"text\" data-reactid=\"14\">Most of us were not around to watch Babe Ruth in his prime, when he was not only baseball\u2019s premier power hitter, but also a true pitching ace who won 78 games between 1915-1918.<\/p>\n<p class=\"canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)--sm Mt(0.8em)--sm canvas-atom\" data-type=\"text\" data-reactid=\"15\">We do have Japanese superstar Shohei Otani though. The 22-year-old pitcher and outfielder is making his case to be baseball\u2019s best two-way player since \u2018The Babe,\u201d and his legend only continued to grow early Sunday when he launched a baseball that got lodged in the panels of the Tokyo Dome roof.<\/p>\n<div class=\"iframe-wrapper Pos(r) My(20px) canvas-atom Mt(14px)--sm Mb(0)--sm\" data-reactid=\"16\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"canvas-video-iframe Bdw(0) StretchedBox W(100%) H(100%)\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/YKJ-tNtrUJk?feature=oembed\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\" data-type=\"videoIframe\" data-reactid=\"17\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p class=\"canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)--sm Mt(0.8em)--sm canvas-atom\" data-type=\"text\" data-reactid=\"18\">Otani and Team Japan were taking on the Netherlands in a World Baseball Classic exhibition game when he launched the epic moonshot.<\/p>\n<p class=\"canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)--sm Mt(0.8em)--sm canvas-atom\" data-type=\"text\" data-reactid=\"19\">Per the Tokyo Dome ground rules, Otani was awarded with a double. Per our own vision, that was one of the most impressive feats of power we\u2019ve seen in a long time. If not for the roof, it might still be rising and carrying.<\/p>\n<p class=\"canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)--sm Mt(0.8em)--sm canvas-atom\" data-type=\"text\" data-reactid=\"20\">Japan went on to win the game 12-10, finishing a four-game exhibition series against the Netherlands and Mexico with a 3-1 record. Now the focus again turns to whether or not Otani will be posted by the\u00a0Nippon Ham Fighters, allowing him to test his skills in MLB.<\/p>\n<p class=\"canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)--sm Mt(0.8em)--sm canvas-atom\" data-type=\"text\" data-reactid=\"21\">There\u2019s a growing sentiment that won\u2019t happen. At least not this winter. If it does, he would immediately become the most intriguing player on the market because of his age and his skill set.<\/p>\n<p class=\"canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)--sm Mt(0.8em)--sm canvas-atom\" data-type=\"text\" data-reactid=\"22\">This past season, Otani\u00a0was 10-4 with a league-best 1.86 ERA and 174 strikeouts in 140 innings in Nippon Professional Baseball. His fastball frequently reaches 100 mph, and he has the ability to make hitters look absolutely silly.<\/p>\n<div class=\"canvas-tweet canvas-atom\" data-type=\"tweet\" data-reactid=\"23\">\n<div class=\"SandboxRoot env-bp-350\" data-twitter-event-id=\"0\">\n<div id=\"twitter-widget-1\" class=\"EmbeddedTweet EmbeddedTweet--mediaForward media-forward js-clickToOpenTarget js-tweetIdInfo\" lang=\"en\" data-click-to-open-target=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BaseballQuotes1\/status\/797519828038877184\" data-iframe-title=\"Twitter Tweet\" data-dt-full=\"%{hours12}:%{minutes} %{amPm} - %{day} %{month} %{year}\" data-dt-months=\"Jan|Feb|Mar|Apr|May|Jun|Jul|Aug|Sep|Oct|Nov|Dec\" data-dt-am=\"AM\" data-dt-pm=\"PM\" data-dt-now=\"now\" data-dt-s=\"s\" data-dt-m=\"m\" data-dt-h=\"h\" data-dt-second=\"second\" data-dt-seconds=\"seconds\" data-dt-minute=\"minute\" data-dt-minutes=\"minutes\" data-dt-hour=\"hour\" data-dt-hours=\"hours\" data-dt-abbr=\"%{number}%{symbol}\" data-dt-short=\"%{day} %{month}\" data-dt-long=\"%{day} %{month} %{year}\" data-scribe=\"page:tweet\" data-tweet-id=\"797519828038877184\" data-twitter-event-id=\"1\">\n<article class=\"MediaCard MediaCard--mediaForward cards-multimedia customisable-border\" dir=\"ltr\" data-scribe=\"component:card\">\n<div class=\"MediaCard-media\">\n<div class=\"MediaCard-widthConstraint js-cspForcedStyle\" data-style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\n<div class=\"MediaCard-mediaContainer js-cspForcedStyle\" data-style=\"padding-bottom: 56.2500%\">\n<div class=\"NaturalImage-ctaOverlay PlayButton PlayButton--centered\" data-scribe=\"element:play_button\"><\/div>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"NaturalImage-image\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pbs.twimg.com\/tweet_video_thumb\/CxFb7n2WEAAH2kH.jpg?w=800&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" data-scribe=\"element:poster_image\" \/><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<div class=\"EmbeddedTweet-tweet\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)--sm Mt(0.8em)--sm canvas-atom\" data-type=\"text\" data-reactid=\"25\">At the plate, Otani hit .322\/.416\/.588 with 22 homers and 67 RBIs in 2016. His 1.004 OPS also would have led the league, but he didn\u2019t have enough plate appearances to qualify.<\/p>\n<p class=\"canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)--sm Mt(0.8em)--sm canvas-atom\" data-type=\"text\" data-reactid=\"26\">The decision MLB teams would have to make is which role they value him in more. Obviously, they\u2019d want him to settle on one position, but his remarkable versatility and ability to change directions if needed is pretty appealing. And no, he hasn\u2019t regularly faced major league competition as a pitcher or hitter, so there would be adjustment in both areas.<\/p>\n<p class=\"canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)--sm Mt(0.8em)--sm canvas-atom\" data-type=\"text\" data-reactid=\"27\">We\u2019ll just say this: Shohei Otani is one of the most fascinating players to come around in a long, long time. We\u2019re all anxious to see what his ceiling, no pun intended, truly is.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Most of us were not around to watch Babe Ruth in his prime, when he was not only baseball\u2019s premier power hitter, but also a true pitching ace who won &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2577,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[68,1],"tags":[64,66,67,69],"class_list":["post-2435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","category-uncategorized","tag-fun","tag-love","tag-players","tag-sports"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themes.divulgetechnologies.com\/flicknclick\/demo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/phmg7twgyzc-tyson-dudley-e1483353680240.jpg?fit=1300%2C731&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/themes.divulgetechnologies.com\/flicknclick\/demo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2435","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/themes.divulgetechnologies.com\/flicknclick\/demo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/themes.divulgetechnologies.com\/flicknclick\/demo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themes.divulgetechnologies.com\/flicknclick\/demo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themes.divulgetechnologies.com\/flicknclick\/demo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2435"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/themes.divulgetechnologies.com\/flicknclick\/demo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2435\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themes.divulgetechnologies.com\/flicknclick\/demo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/themes.divulgetechnologies.com\/flicknclick\/demo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themes.divulgetechnologies.com\/flicknclick\/demo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themes.divulgetechnologies.com\/flicknclick\/demo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}