Hideki Matsui, the first Japanese player to win World Series MVP, praised Shohei Ohtani (32), who is playing for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Japanese outlet Sports Nippon annex reported on the 5th that Hideki Matsui, who played for the Yomiuri Giants and the New York Yankees, appeared on a Nippon TV program and talked about how great Shohei Ohtani is.
Matsui, who served as Yomiuri's cleanup hitter, was a slugger who accumulated a .282 batting average in 1,236 major league games (4,442 at-bats, 1,253 hits), with 175 home runs, 760 RBIs, 656 runs, 13 stolen bases and an OPS of .822.
The program in which Matsui appeared highlighted the performance Ohtani showed in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series.
Dodgers hitting coach Aaron Bates recalled Ohtani's performance at the time, looking back on the scene when Ohtani hit a 7th-inning inside fastball to left-center for his third home run of the day, and said, "His condition was completely back. He's fine now. I thought Shohei had been reborn."
About Ohtani's performance in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series, Matsui said, "Honestly, it's something only Ohtani can do. But if he does it, it's not surprising," and added, "Now there is no one who can properly talk about him. I feel that way too. If you compare him to an animal, he is a rare yet overwhelming presence, a big, majestic feeling. Just being in that spot makes you go, "Ah..." and feel overwhelmed."
Matsui, mentioning Ohtani's third home run referenced by coach Bates, said, "Technically, I think the third home run is the one that 'only Ohtani could' hit. He pushed an inside fastball to the left of center field, that is, to the opposite direction of the hitter. It looked like the ball came in a bit inside, and hitting that to the opposite field from center is quite difficult. It's amazing that he was able to generate that much distance from there," expressing admiration.
Emphasizing, "Delaying the point itself is not difficult, but making that hit a home run is difficult," Matsui praised without reserve, "You see the ball a little deeper, all the way to the catcher's area, and hit it to the opposite field. But turning that hit into a home run is Ohtani's greatest quality."
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