WHEN SHOHEI OHTANI stands on the mound and stares into his catcher for a sign, his mouth is slightly open and his chin is raised just a little, giving off the impression he's every bit as curious as we are to discover what might come next. He comes set neck-high and stares somewhere over the top of the third-base dugout before his left leg rises slowly and accelerates quickly as he descends the mound and the ball releases. The motion seems too easy to produce such force.
When Ohtani walks to the batter's box from the on-deck circle, he stops several feet up the first-base line and takes a sweeping practice swing that could be interpreted as a warning.