After hitting 164 km/h, the monster took 160 km in the first real battle.
Even Murakami, the best hitter in Japanese professional baseball, struck out with a 160 km light-speed ball.
Considering that it is now mid-February, this is a very surprising pace.
It is unclear whether he will appear in the Korean game, but he has shown that he is a pitcher who can be of great help to the Japanese national team.
On the 15th, in a practice game against Yakult, Sasaki pitched 2 innings, 1 hit, 5 strikeouts, and no runs. His best speed was taken up to 160 km.
He struck out Kazu Maruyama, Nakamura, and Uchiyama consecutively in the first inning. The third pitch against Uchiyama was 160 km. It was the best restraint of the day.
In the second inning, he struck out Murakami, the leadoff batter, and set him back up. Murakami is Japan’s representative slugger who hit 56 home runs last year, the most by a Japanese player. Along with this, he is at the center of the Japanese batting line, which had the best season by winning three batting crowns.
He struck out such a home run hitter with a 160 km fast ball.
He then got a left-handed hit by Nagaoka in the 5th, but he came down the mound with no runs, catching Miyamoto with a shortstop grounder and striking out Okumura with a miss.
Sasaki is an up-and-coming ace who recorded the highest speed of 164 km in Japanese professional baseball. Last season, despite receiving special management from the team, he appeared in 20 games and had a successful season, recording 9 wins and 4 losses and an earned run average of 2.02.
He also achieved a feat by pulling out the youngest perfect game ever.
His physical weaknesses are still under the spotlight, but before the start of the season, he is said to be capable of doing his part. 메이저놀이터
Since the starting pitcher is a WBC with a limited number of pitches, the Korean national team may avoid Sasaki. But he can’t guarantee what the outcome will be if he goes head-to-head.
Sasaki is still a pitcher who receives special care from the team. It seems that the trend will continue in the WBC as well. However, it is unknown what will happen when Sasaki’s fastball, which pierces the catcher’s mitt, meets our national team.
Sasaki proved to be in normal condition by taking 160km ahead of the national team convocation. It remains to be seen whether our batters will be able to overcome the light-speed ball in the confrontation with Korea.