u/k_realtor

He Knew, We Knew, Everyone knew.

Respect to Mason Miller for recognizing Pages.

He's a good closer but you can't battle against Pages when he's hot.

MVPages!

Forkball at 86.6mph and 747 spin rate rpm. He might be the only pitcher right now to execute a perfect "Split-Knuckle" so hitters don't know what to do cause it appears to be floating and diving.

He has one the lowest spin of any non-knuckleball pitch and is getting better. Senga comes close and Ohtani but a 1,200 spin rate.

Also love his 90.8mph splitter with 945 spin rate, most good pitchers avg splitters around 85mph are over 1200 rpm, sometimes 1400pm.

OK I'm getting off the Roki is my favorite pitcher soapbox. Back to everyone discussing "better" pitchers.

source

iirc, it started in April 2024 as Ohtani went to first base often so it became a natural thing for Ohtani to start his season with some fun and get to know his new teammates.

He never did that with the Angels. :)

But all I remember was the face of Pikachu, staring into the crowd during the Japanese national anthem while Ohtani was looking serious.