Regarding the weakness in covering the four corners of the strike zone, especially the high outside and high inside positions, the batting average hovers around .200; moreover, with a significant sample size, Ohtani Shohei has a weak response to forkballs and changeups, with batting averages of just .167 and .154 respectively.
As the Ham Team's superstar rookie, Ohtani Shohei's pitching and hitting data have long been thoroughly analyzed by the SoftBank's data team. Which balls he struggles to hit, which positions are his cold zones for hitting—this data has been deeply engraved in Lin Guanglai's mind, integrated into actual gameplay.
Takeshima Shinya squatted at a low outside position, signaling Lin Guanglai for a fastball low and outside—this pitch was mainly to observe Ohtani Shohei's reaction to balls in the corner positions where he is not proficient.
