How does soccer player Shohei Ohtani, the hero of the “greatest game in history”, cope with statistics? – Independence

2024-09-25 08:12:43

Already famous in his sport, the Japanese has been praised on social networks since he set a new record on Wednesday September 19. Compared in the football club to the combination of Cristiano Ronaldo and Manuel Neuer, he showed the unpredictable calculation.

He is the highest paid American athlete ($700 million over ten years). For a week, he has been in the media headlines in the United States after his match against Miami, Wednesday September 19, was described as a “The greatest match in history”. On social networks, where videos of his recent activities are playing in a loop, there are countless Internet users calling him, simply, a god. In France, however, it is a safe bet that his name is mostly unknown. Because Shohei Ohtani plays soccer, a little-known sport in France, which is incomprehensible to ordinary French people. So, if we tell you that Ohtani, who wears the colors of the Los Angeles Dodgers team, combined for three home runs and two stolen bases in a game against Miami, you will not come forward or necessarily move emotionally. Check Accounts so ask game experts to “interpret” Shohei Ohtani’s performance. And to explain why, we’re dealing with possibly the best player in baseball history, but also a great athlete.

“It’s just unique. Even superlatives are not enough to describe what he does. It’s almost unreal.”said Benjamin Bernard, a journalist who follows American sports for beIN Sports. In this discipline where (let’s keep it simple) the players must hit the ball with the bat, then go through all the bases scattered on the field to make points, Shohei Ohtani has also become, in the event of “The greatest match in history”, first in history to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases in the same season. In MLB, the North American baseball league where Nippon plays, only two players have combined these two statistics before, but not in one season.

Behind these technical rules there are two controls that are only the best master and which require specific abilities. By making home, “This is when a player hits the ball and it goes straight to the back of the court, Benjamin Bernard explained. It is the most offensive decision in baseball, because it guarantees scoring. He scored at least one point, and up to four of his teammates were on the bases. “ Hitting a home run requires “A force, given that the bullet must travel more than a hundred meters”.

As for stolen bases, the word is used in cases where “The player decides to leave his base at the moment the ball returns to the opponent’s hand, without waiting for his teammate to hit, and manages to run to the other”. summarizes Elliot Fleys, director general of the French Baseball and Softball Federation. The player takes a risk in that he exposes himself to elimination, but he is closer to the final goal if he succeeds. “Stealing bases requires explosiveness and speed,” for the distance between the two bases is about 27 meters, which must be covered in a few minutes. As a result, Benjamin Bernard continues, “The two should not go together. The best home run hitters are strong, while to steal the bases, you have to be thin, slim, very dynamic. Ohtani is not only the best in history in home runs or in stealing bases, but his level of mobility is, statistically, unheard of.

Not seen since Babe Ruth

Despite his imposing size, 1.93 m and 95 kilos, Shohei Ohtani has maintained a speed that allows him to catch. THE The New Yorker erected it into “The Vitruvian Man of Baseball” a year ago. Elliot Fleys admits: “If we had to define a baseball player’s feature that allows you to handle everything, it would be this one.” To draw a more telling comparison for the French public, he sketched, equivalent to rugby would be “the style of the third line but with the legs of a winger”, a colossus capable of crossing the earth at full speed.

What makes Shohei Ohtani even more unusual is that he falls primarily into the category of “two-way player”, a player who is both one of the best hitters and the best pitchers, which he has not not seen since the legendary American Babe. Ruth. For good reason, the rules of baseball normally allow the pitcher to be replaced by a batter, to be the only defensive player not to go on offense. Shohei Ohtani’s strength is to be (in addition to his running skills) a “two in one” player, capable of ensuring no matter his position: hitting the ball hard when his team hits, then throwing the ball to the batter as opposed to when your team goes on the defensive. An elbow injury prevented him from pitching this year and his team, the Los Angeles Dodgers, preferred to keep him. But the statistics recorded in previous years testify to his unique abilities as a pitcher. In 2022, Shohei Ohtani established himself as “Fourth best pitcher in MLB”, remember Bastien Leclair, one of the founders of The Strike Out, a media dedicated to baseball.

“A sport where he will score two goals and then save a penalty”

It is difficult to specify an exact profile, since “In other team sports, we do not consider such a duality, the difference is as marked as that between the pitcher and the hitter”, points out Benjamin Bernard. But both beIN sports journalist, Elliot Fleys and Bastien Leclair agree that in order to get as close as possible, we must look at the football team. For the founder of The Strike Out, “It looked like he was playing the first half of the World Cup final as a center forward [la pointe de l’attaque, ndlr], with the level of Cristiano Ronaldo or Erling Haaland, and he plays the second half as a defender, with the abilities of Manuel Neuer. “It will be a game where you score two goals and then make a fine save.”

From August 31when he reached 43 companies and 43 stolen bases, #17 of the Los Angeles Dodgers has achieved an unprecedented feat. To date, Ohtani now has 53 home runs and 55 stolen bases. And the season isn’t over yet. On September 29, “It’s probably going to be 60-60, with him, you never know”, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told the media. After the individual exploits, his satisfaction as a world champion with his country, all he needs is the joint title in the MLB to establish his legend. Benjamin Bernard assures us, “If it continues like this, it will be hard not to put it in the goat box”, THE the greatest of all time or the best of all time in their sport.