Detroit — He’s a little bit of everything and a lot of something, defying definition. He’s a freak or a flash, a generational talent or a bizarre baseball experiment, 100 years in the making. However you label him, Shohei Ohtani is something no one has seen before, not in the majors, not in the modern era.
The Tigers were eager to see the Angels’ rookie pitcher-hitter extraordinaire, to see what the fuss was all about. And frankly, baseball could use more fascinating fusses like this, rarities that burst normal convention.
Here Ohtani was at Comerica Park on Wednesday night, unleashing his devastating splitter and hitting 101 mph with his fastball, in between the raindrops, game stops and wild goose chases.