Tyler Soderstrom agrees to a seven-year extension and US$86 million with the Athletics<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\nAmong the newly called up players are two Major League pitchers: Yusei Kikuchi<\/strong>, of the Los Angeles Angels, who will make his Classic debut, and Yuki Matsui<\/strong>, reliever for the San Diego Padres. Both join superstar Shohei Ohtani<\/strong>, who had already expressed his intention to represent Japan again.<\/p>\n\n\nThe group is completed with five pitchers who play in the Japanese professional league: Hiromi Ito<\/strong> (Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters), Kaima Taira<\/strong> (Seibu Lions), Atsuki Taneichi<\/strong> (Chiba Lotte Marines), Taisei Ota<\/strong> (Yomiuri Giants) and Daichi Ishii<\/strong> (Hanshin Tigers).\n\nOne of the main topics of attention revolves around Ohtani’s possible role on the mound. Although it has not yet been defined if he will pitch in the tournament, the Dodgers manager, Dave Roberts<\/strong>, recently hinted that the plan would be to use him only as a batter.\n\n“I hope he doesn’t pitch, but I don’t know. He’s very in tune with his body, although the idea is probably that he only bats,” Roberts commented during the Winter Meetings.\n\nOhtani was the Most Valuable Player of the 2023 World Baseball Classic<\/strong>, after batting for .435 average with an OPS of 1.345<\/strong>, in addition to registering a record of 2-0 and an ERA of 1.86<\/strong> as a pitcher. His performance culminated with the historic strikeout of Mike Trout<\/strong> in the final against the United States, sealing the Japanese championship.\n\nThe Japan Samurai roster will continue to be defined in the coming weeks, ahead of the start of the 2026 World Baseball Classic.\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nShohei Ohtani and the Less Visible Aspects of a Historic Greatness<\/h2>\n\n\nLOS ANGELES. \u2013<\/strong> Shohei Ohtani continues to redefine what it means to be a superstar in modern baseball. Winner of three consecutive Most Valuable Player awards<\/strong>, the two most recent with the Dodgers, the Japanese player has been a key piece in the conquest of two consecutive World Series<\/strong> for Los Angeles.\n\nSince his arrival at the Dodgers, Ohtani created the exclusive 50-50 club<\/strong> (50 home runs and 50 stolen bases), shone as a pitcher in the postseason and starred in historic performances in the World Series, confirming his integral impact on the game.\n\nOne of the most notable aspects of his evolution has been his ability to punish all types of pitches<\/strong>. After showing vulnerability to breaking pitches and changes in his early campaigns, Ohtani has managed to become a complete hitter, mastering fastballs, breaking balls, and low-velocity pitches.\n\n\nSince 2024, he leads the Major Leagues in home runs and career value<\/strong> against breaking pitches and changeups, in addition to remaining among the best against fastballs. This comprehensive dominance has put opposing pitchers in a practically impossible position.<\/p>\n\n\nAnother significant advance has been his performance against left-handed pitchers. After starting his career with difficulties in that area, Ohtani has notably improved his contact, power, and plate discipline, reducing his strikeout rate and increasing his offensive production in a sustained manner.\n\nAlso, the increase in the elevation of his hits<\/strong> has enhanced his power. Since 2021, he elevates nearly 60% of the balls he connects, which has translated into more than 230 home runs<\/strong>, surpassed only by Aaron Judge in that period.\n\nAt 31 years old<\/strong>, Shohei Ohtani shows no signs of slowing down. With constant adjustments, technical evolution, and an unprecedented impact as a hitter and pitcher, his trajectory points to continuing to mark an era in world baseball.","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TOKYO.\u2013 As Japan Samurai prepares to defend their title in the 2026 World Baseball Classic, their roster continues to take shape with the addition of seven pitchers, announced this Friday the manager Hirokazu Ibata. You may be interested in:Tyler Soderstrom agrees to a seven-year extension and US$86 million with the Athletics Among the newly called […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":495785,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[35481],"tags":[611,40231,40813,13766,40853],"class_list":["post-495784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-baseball","tag-deultimominuto","tag-dominican-republic","tag-major-leagues","tag-mlb","tag-thetruthnewspaper"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/phj1q1-24Yw","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/12\/dm_241125_Kikuchi_text_to_video_default.jpg","dum_api":{"author_name":"Redacci\u00f3n De \u00daltimo Minuto","author_image":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/cropped-logo-de-ultimo-minuto-96x96.png","categories_name":["Baseball"],"featured_media_url":"https:\/\/cdn.deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/12\/dm_241125_Kikuchi_text_to_video_default.jpg"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=495784"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495784\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/495785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=495784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=495784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=495784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}