Ohtani and J-Rod both learned how to hit opposite way in charming ways

Here’s how MLB All-Star Game teammates Julio Rodriguez and Shohei Ohtani, two of the league’s best opposite-field power hitters, learned to stop pulling balls. 

The American League lost the MLB All-Star Game for the first time in a decade on Tuesday, despite garnering the support of the home crowd in Seattle. A lot of that support was directed at two players in particular: Mariners hometown star Julio Rodriguez and potential future Mariner Shohei Ohtani.

Rodriguez, fresh off the best single round in HR Derby history, stood in right field and gave the broadcast booth an interview mid-game. He spoke on a range of subjects, but none more fascinating and amusing than the childhood circumstances that taught him how to hit to the opposite field.

Ohtani also learned how to smack opposite-field dingers as a kid.

In both instances, it’s a credit to the remarkable talent of Rodriguez and Ohtani, whose adaptability and flexibility at the plate makes them two of the most feared hitters in baseball.

MLB All-Star Game teammates Shohei Ohtani and Julio Rodriguez both learned how to hit opposite-field homers as kids

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Julio Rodriguez made a simple financial decision in the younger years of his life: stop hitting balls off the houses beyond left field at his neighborhood ballpark. The only solution? To hit the ball to right field.

Evidently, it got a little too dangerous for Rodriguez’s neighbors: he hit a man sitting outside his home one day, which put an end to Rodriguez pulling home runs into the danger zone. With great power, comes great responsibility. Just because you can hit houses, doesn’t mean you can afford to hit houses.

Ohtani’s opposite-field power origin story is remarkably similar. As a young kid in Japan, Ohtani showed up to practice for his local baseball team and swiftly exceeded all reasonable expectations for Little League.

From Anthony Kuhn of NPR:

"“Ohtani’s capabilities quickly surpassed his teammates’. Batting left-handed, he often hit home runs over the right-field fence and into the river. [Ohtani’s Little League Coach Shoji] Asari says the cost of lost baseballs began to add up.So I jokingly told him, ‘Don’t pull your hits, Shohei!'” he recalls. “He shot me a dagger-like look, and then hit his next homer to left field. I think that was when he found the fun of opposite-field hitting.”"

Ohtani was losing baseball after baseball to right field, generally a good indicator of a kid’s prodigious talent. The only solution? Hit the ball the opposite way. The fact that Ohtani, in Little League, could switch his power axis on a whim is pretty laughable. The dude has always been twelve steps ahead of the pack at every age level.

There simply aren’t many opposite-field power hitters in the same vein as Rodriguez and Ohtani. To learn that both developed their special talent out of necessity — or, in Ohtani’s case, more or less as a joke — is a strong reminder of how special MLB players are.