10 people, 8 people, 5 people… This is the number of at-bats for Japanese pitchers in the WBC final. Mike Trout (Angels) felt this way when he saw Japan’s brilliant pitching change. “Everything in Japan has a plan.”

Japan defeated the United States in American baseball. Japan hired seven pitchers until it won 3-2 in the final match against the United States at the 2023 World Baseball Classic (WBC) held at Rondipo Park in Miami, Florida on the 22nd (Korean time). Seven players, from starter Shota Imana (DeNA) to last pitcher Shohei Ohtani (Angels), blocked the American lineup, which was lined with MVPs and All-Stars, with just two runs. Two solo home runs were all that was allowed.

During the game, Trout felt that Japan was making deliberate pitching changes. I mean he got the feeling he was changing pitchers the way you see them in the major leagues.

In fact, Japan left starter Imanaga alone in 10 at-bats and only faced first hitter Muki Betsu (Dodgers) twice, Shosei Dogo (Yomiuri), Hiroto Takahashi (Chunichi), Hiromi Ito (Nippon-Ham), Daisei Ota (Yomiuri), and Darvish. Yu (San Diego)먹튀검증 left the content and replaced it before the batting order turned.

It was also unusual that most of them use splitters (forkballs), but that’s not all. The height of the arm was also different, and above all, the fact that the main weapon was different from each other confused American hitters. The second pitcher, Dogo, threw as many splitters as fastballs. Takahashi, the third pitcher and the youngest member of the Japanese national team, defeated American batters with his fastball. Ito mainly used the slider and Daisei mainly used the sinker.

According to Sports Illustrated (SI), Trout said, “I think Japan had a plan. They didn’t let our hitters face the same pitcher twice. I think that was the game plan. The Japanese pitchers all had good pitches, but If we had been able to face them one more time, we would have had good results, but they didn’t, and the unfamiliar pitches made it difficult for us.”