novelraw Chapter 698 33: Linvincible
Chapter 698 33: Linvincible
Jose Ramirez, one of the star players of the Cleveland Indians, was the best batter within the Indians during their 22-game winning streak, without a doubt.
Like his teammate Francisco Lindor, Jose Ramirez has also seen a data boom across various metrics of his career this season:
After being overturned by the Cubs last season and painfully losing the championship, Ramirez reflected deeply during the offseason, retaining his body's flexibility while doing a substantial increase in muscle mass, and employing a specialized team to make adjustments to his hitting style.
This effort has significantly increased his power output this season: currently, he is the double king of the entire Major League, ranks among the top ten in the league for contact rate, and his home runs within the Indians only trail his infield teammate Lindor; his recent hitting state is as hot as a freshly heated iron.
Furthermore, it is worth mentioning that so far, Ramirez has never struck out more than 70 times in a single season, maintaining a walk rate of over 10% annually, which exponentially increases his threat to pitchers, making him by no means an easy opponent to solve.
Considering the opponent's divinely assisted recent status, Lin Guanglai has no intention of going head-to-head with Ramirez right at the start of the game—this match is very important to the Yankees, and as a starting pitcher taking the mound, Lin Guanglai does not want to be replaced after just 6 innings; as a pitcher with innate matchup advantages, he has a bunch of teammates to rely on, without needing to expend too much stamina and energy early on.
Considering Lin Guanglai is a right-handed pitcher and Yankee Stadium is a top-tier left-handed friendly ballpark, Ramirez, who can bat from both sides, chose to step into the left batter's box.
Seeing this, Lin Guanglai on the pitcher's mound immediately made a gesture towards his back, to which the Yankees' infield and outfield players responded accordingly, adjusting the defensive alignment towards the right side of Yankee Stadium.
This is the optimal solution derived from the mass analysis of Jose Ramirez's hitting data by the data team this season: data shows that since the start of this season, Ramirez has become a strongly pull-hitting inclined batter, and targeted defensive shifts are undoubtedly the best way to limit such batters.
After checking the pitch signal with Gary Sanchez in the catcher's seat, Lin Guanglai nodded slightly, and with a "whiz," the baseball broke free from his fingertips, being thrown towards home plate.
"Inside fastball!" Ramirez stared at the white ball, this judgment only flashed through his mind briefly, and he decisively swung the bat.
Lin Guanglai's control is extremely excellent, something that has been recognized by all Major League teams throughout the majority of the season; and the habit of rarely throwing a bad pitch with the first pitch has naturally been grasped by the data teams of each team—so, to deal with such a fast-moving, precision-controlled pitcher, Ramirez decided from start to finish to uphold an absolute no-ball selection attitude, and attack the first pitch!
Yet, the next second, just as the white ball was about to fly into the strike zone, its trajectory suddenly changed, suddenly veering inside out of the strike zone.
"Shit!" Ramirez exclaimed inwardly, realizing he'd been duped, but it was too late to retract his bat, as the baseball nearly grazed past his thigh, flying into Sanchez's catcher's mitt with a deep "thud."
"Strike!" The umpire decisively raised his right hand to declare the result, while the huge cheers of Yankee Stadium's fans echoed simultaneously.
Exiting the batter's box, Ramirez squinted slightly, and with a slightly resentful look cast his eyes towards Lin Guanglai on the pitcher's mound; Lin Guanglai, however, didn't mind and just kept rubbing the baseball returned by Sanchez—this near-body slider was certainly not a mistake in Lin Guanglai's control, but precisely a scenario he intentionally created.
Being able to control every pitch into the strike zone is naturally good, but as a top pitcher, there are times when one needs the courage to throw a bad pitch—Lin Guanglai had suffered some losses due to his excessively high strike rate in previous parts of games; and under the guidance of the Yankees' pitching coach and data team, he has gradually made changes to his past pitching style.
Judging by the results of this first half-inning against the Indians, these adjustments and changes have been proven effective: his unconventional approach caused no small trouble for Lindor and Ramirez, who have been in hot recent form.
In the Yankees' player zone, Larry Rothschild's face was radiant; the more outstanding Lin Guanglai performed, the more it proved to a certain extent that he, as the pitching coach, completed his job well, and he naturally shared the honor;
Meanwhile, on the Indians' side, Terry Francona still sat firmly unmoved, as if completely unaffected:
Others might think that as head coach, Francona wants the team to keep winning until the 26-game winning streak record set by the New York Giants in 1916 is broken, ensuring a place in history;
But in fact, Francona doesn't want his team to keep winning—the burden of wanting to win and fearing to lose on the players will only grow heavier, it's better to find an opportunity to unload the burden, and then fully prepare for the playoffs and strive for the World Series championship.
Today's game, in Francona's view, is the best opportunity. of course, if the team can keep winning, he won't deliberately throw cold water—it ultimately depends on how capable the Yankees' players are.