The Launch Angle

Let’s get this out of the way. As an Astros fan, you may dislike the Angels; you may dislike the Dodgers. And when their players come up to bat, even though I’m not a big fan of this practice, you might boo them because of the laundry they wear.

You still have to acknowledge that Shohei Ohtani is one of the greatest, if not the greatest, human beings to ever play the game of baseball. He hits the ball as hard as anyone; he runs the bases as fast as anyone; he throws a baseball as hard as anyone. His Rookie of the Year award and 3 of his 4 MVPs were founded on the incredible amount of value he provided as both a great pitcher and a great hitter. But even if you took away one side of the coin, he’s still amazing.

In 2024, while recovering from Tommy John surgery, which would be a lost season for most players, he instead won NL MVP as a designated hitter without ever pitching a single inning. He turned in the MLB’s only 50 home run, 50 stolen base season.

If you took away his production at the plate, he’s still elite. Who has the lowest ERA in the majors since 2021 (minimum 400 IP)? It’s Shohei Ohtani. If he qualified innings-wise, he would be the MLB leader in ERA this year as he comes into tonight’s game with a 0.60 ERA. (And if he logs 6 innings pitched tonight, he will qualify innings-wise and hold that throne officially).

He is an incredible talent that makes the adjective “generational” seem like an undersell. If you don’t recognize that, or you’re fixated on believing that he’s a degenerate gambler, what can I say? I think you’re probably blinded by wanting to see an icon and rival fall.

Ohtani’s success means a little bit more to me, on a personal level. As someone of Asian descent, seeing Shohei Ohtani succeed at the highest of levels makes me proud. It’s inspiring, and I love that my kids who play baseball can see someone who looks like them be as amazing as he is.

Growing up, you might remember films like Sixteen Candles, Goonies, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, or Gung Ho and remember them fondly. If you’re older, maybe it’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s. I don’t. I hate those movies. The way they depicted Asians in a stereotypical manner was a current every Asian-American has had to fight against growing up. Maybe you don’t think it’s a big deal. I do.

Things have gotten better over the decades, and people have become more open-minded, but not as much as you might think when it comes to how Asians are viewed with athletics. Even in baseball, a sport that Japan absolutely adores. When Hideo Nomo came over from Japan, there was much skepticism whether he could be a major league pitcher. Well, show me another pitcher who has managed to throw a no-hitter at Coors Field.

The narrative then changed. Well, maybe they can pitch, but they can’t hit. So Ichiro came over, the greatest hitter in NPB, and during spring training, there were sportswriters and talking heads debating on whether he could manage to be a starter or not. I remember feeling insulted by those pieces, that they would be so condescending to a Japanese player that they would opine that the #1 player in NPB might struggle to be a 4th outfielder on the Mariners. Ichiro not only started. He won the batting title and MVP.

The narrative changed further, when Hideki Matsui came. Well, maybe they can pitch, and they can hit singles, but they can’t hit for power. 3 dingers in the 2009 World Series marks the last time the Bronx Bombers won a title.

Acceptance started to grow, but the undercurrent of skepticism of whether Asians can be as good athletes as whites, blacks and Latinos never went away. Ohtani came with a ton of hype but when he struggled in his rookie season spring training, social media and sportswriters were quick to get their “I told you so“‘s ready.

You can argue that the skepticism was based on a valuation of the level of competition in NPB, but it’s always been rooted in more than that. At the center of it has always been a degree of prejudice that people probably aren’t even aware they have: that Asians can be your doctors or your scientists, or that they can play first violin or become chess grandmasters, but they can’t be athletes. They’re smaller, weaker, not physical enough.

Well, forget that. They can be the greatest baseball player to ever play the game. Maybe it’s heresy as an Astros fan, but when my kids asked if they could get Shohei Ohtani t-shirts, I didn’t hesitate for a second.

Thanks for reading. Flame me in the comments.

Shohei Ohtani takes the mound for Game 2 of the series against Peter Lambert, who after generating some buzz in his first two starts with his high Whiff%, generated only 5 swings and misses his last time out.

This post will be updated with starting lineups as they are made available.

The game will be broadcast at 7:10 p.m. CT on SCHN with radio coverage on KBME 790 AM. The game will also be broadcast nationally on TBS.

We hope you will join us and the rest of the Launch Angle community for the game! The turnout has been fantastic on the TLA Discord Server for the game threads.

Join us again for today’s game. Just join the Discord server using this link: https://launch-angle.com/discord .

For more detailed instructions, please see the Guide to the Launch Angle.

If you’ve participated in game threads on other Astros sites in the past, you will probably see a lot of familiar names. Chat, lurk, do whatever! (But please say “hi”, so we know you’re not a bot.)

Feature photo by All-Pro Reels, Creative Commons License.