=== Beltre ===
We mentioned in the Holliday article that Beltre uses the anti-wrists "golfer's triangle."
He insists on swinging for the fences, so obviously has to commit very early on the pitch. Hence the fishing for pitches that break outside the zone.
Beltre is worth 10, 15 runs over Lopez with the glove. Fly me to the moon. That's wonderful, but doesn't Lopez' hitting talent count, either?
Beltre for $13m, that would be peachy keen. Lopez for $5m, siiiiiiigggggghhhhh I guess we can put up with him for one more year if we have to.
.....
Both of these guys are good actors, both are a pleasure to watch play ... have never understood why Beltre is so dearly beloved and Lopez so shunned. Ah well.
Adrian's a fine ballplayer, of course. Hope he gets to Fenway, hits 29 homers and becomes a star again.
.....
Nothing's an absolute. Not all ML hitters are equally talented. Some are quicker than others.
Perhaps in Fenway, a few easy jalapeno poppers over the Monster and Adrian will relax into his swing, stop launching so much from his keister, and glide on into a good year.
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=== Ichiro ===
If you've ever seen a pic of Ichiro at the point of contact, you've seen his ripped, Popeye forearms bulging as the bat connects.
Scouts were freaked out at the power that Ichiro showed when he got here. "I don't know where he gets all that power!" He is, almost uniquely, a hitter who gets power BOTH from a huge centrifugal swing AND from a powerful wrist/forearm hinge.
So you get 400-footers from a guy who weighs 150 pounds... and the guys he plays with, urging him to go to the Home Run Derby. The wrist snap is a big part of it.
Ichiro hinges his wrists visibly; he looks like a golfer on the tee, not on the putting green. From a physical standpoint, his forearms are a big part of the oddity that is Ichiro. Other guys his size, such as Freddy Patek I guess, don't have those forearms.
...............
My family watches some show called "American Ninja Batman" or something -- a bunch of great athletes running extreme obstacle courses.
I glanced at the screen and said, how come the Olympic gymnasts don't win all the time? Their reply, "They can't do the rock climbing stuff."
Shoulders are one thing: fingers and wrists another. I sure would like to see Ichiro do some rock climbing.
Vertical jump used to be a weird way to test pro athletes; now it's the #1 tryout stat. I wonder if, some day, Japanese coaches will ask hitters to do a rock climb :- )
Cheers,
Dr D
That show is called "Sasuke" in Japan, Doc. :-)
Strangely enough no Olympian has ever beaten the Final Stage.
A 36 year old fishman cleared Sasuke 2 years ago and is still one of the top 1-3 competitors.
On the woman's version (called Kunoichi), theres a spaced out/punk fashion 31-ish lady that owned for few years in a row. She cleared it 3 times when the stage was more difficult, but hasn't participated in the last year+.
Yeah, when you've got a show like that, where Olympic athletes can't win... you're better off going the other way and letting Biggest Loser contestants give it a shot :- )
They are probably naming it after "Sarutobi Sasuke". Hes a mythical ninja, although its not clear whether he really existed or not.
Sasuke is really interesting in that they have several professional athletes competing at every event, and yet no one has ever cleared the final stage. It makes you wonder if some of these better contestants made the wrong career choice. :-)
That one guy finished it, but 10 seconds late, or somesuch.
What's the point if nobody can win? The guy with the best time wins the dough, or it's just a Sisyphus game, or ?
2 people have won in the history of "Sasuke" (finishing late doesn't count..). When someone wins they break the stages down and redo them to make them harder.
"Kunoichi", the Woman's version, was cleared 3 times by the same lady in a short period of time. Since she stopped appearing, they drastically LOWERED the difficulty and 2 women cruised through the final in the last event.. I'm guessing they are going to raise the difficulty again after that.
The difficulty factor is part of the appeal.. Even getting to the Final Stage is rare, but clearing it makes you a borderline living legend.
There isn't any money involved (I think there should be), but the guys that are consistently top competitors seems to do better in their careers or get local Commercial gigs and things like that. Its kind of a hobby/challenge/obssession for some of these athletes (many who never played a professional sport).