Pitcher hides his glove with his jersey, breakdown
What Happened
In a thrilling matchup at the World Baseball Classic, relief pitcher Takahashi of Team Japan takes the mound against Australia. From the very start, Takahashi displays an unusual tactic - he intentionally covers his glove with his jersey, repeatedly pulling the fabric over his hand throughout his windup. Takahashi's pitching motion is a sight to behold. He begins by crouching low, then dramatically raises his left leg in a high kick, all while keeping his glove hidden under his jersey. As he reaches the apex of his delivery, his arms fully extend, revealing the ball separated from the glove. Takahashi then smoothly transitions into his crane-like balanced pose before driving forward and releasing the pitch. This peculiar maneuver has piqued the interest of commentators and fans alike. In a postgame interview, Takahashi acknowledges that hiding his glove has become a routine part of his pitching strategy. "It's become routine now, but there's no doubt I'm hiding something," he admits. Further research reveals that Takahashi is not the only Japanese pitcher employing this tactic. His teammate Agawa reportedly first introduced the glove-hiding technique, and it has since spread to others on the squad. One fan on a Japanese forum humorously suggested "there's a cat inside" the jersey, though the true reasoning remains a source of speculation. Regardless of the motivation, Takahashi's unorthodox delivery appears to be paying dividends. In this dominant outing against Australia, he mixes a blazing fastball with a sharp curveball and slider, keeping the opposing batters off-balance. Japan cruises to a 7-0 victory, with Takahashi's effective pitching a key factor. As the World Baseball Classic continues, all eyes will be on Takahashi and his fellow Japanese pitchers, eager to see if this unique glove-hiding technique helps propel their team to glory. For now, it remains a captivating and perplexing quirk in the world of international baseball.
Full Transcript
Click timestamps to jump to that momentthis relief pitcher for Japan in the
World Baseball Classic did something
that I've never seen players do before
he took his jersey and put it over his
glove repeatedly look grabs it very
intentionally puts it over his glove
this breakdown is brought to you by
SeatGeek use code John Boy for 20 off
your tickets and just over and over and
over and over that's what he does to
hide his glove and I thought is this
just because his Jersey's baggy maybe
they gave him too baggy of a jersey but
no it's very intentional his entire
wind-up is very intentional look he's
gonna go up up cranes for a bit hangs
out and then drops the pitch if you want
to see a bunch of them now this is when
there's no Runners on base the Jersey is
over the glove he's looking at the
catcher he bounces a little bit gets the
sign looks straight ahead the left leg
comes up to a nice Tippy Toe showing off
the legs a little bit the ball and glove
both go above his head but they separate
they separate from each other and he
kind of finds the end there like his
hands are fully extended to the point
where he kind of snaps his elbows then
the left leg comes down the right leg
goes up the knee comes all the way up
till he finds the high end of that just
like he did his arms and now he's just
going to hang out in a crane for a
little bit where he balances it okay so
now his balance like a weight pendulum
then he takes the ball smacks it against
the glove maybe that tightens his grip
or just Rhythm and then he drives
forward and releases the pitch kind of
crazy just a lot going on and this is
all after
he hides his glove in his jersey which
is the thing that
is the weirdest thing or the most
unusual so I went back and yeah it's not
just because his Jersey's bag he
intentionally asks for baggy jerseys to
do this this is him with the swallows
his regular team and he's doing it there
too so then I went to the Japanese
forums like have people been asking
questions I was like what's what's
Jersey in in Japanese and then I Googled
that and then I Googled his name in
Japanese and then I was using
translating yeah a lot of people have
been asking about this you know and in
my research found out this isn't just
Takahashi who does this but some of his
other teammates on the swallows also do
this so their pitching coach must have
told them hey here's what we're gonna do
and this guy had a solid lead he said
there's a cat inside and that was voted
as the best answer
and I was like come on guys I'm looking
for actual answers on all these Japanese
forums like what is it uh and agawa I
guess was the first pitcher to do it and
he actually threw a no-hitter when he
changed to this set position and then
maybe more people followed suit and in
2023
professional baseball commentator Yutaka
Tak Kaji that one always trips me up
asked him why are you pulling your
uniform up and do you feel like you're
hiding habits and the translation says
he said it's become routine now but
there's no doubt I'm hiding something
if that's a correct translation and yeah
I mean that's the most obvious reason
why you're doing it he even announced it
himself this tweet says that he said
this season I will be making the gesture
of putting the uniform on the glove when
entering the set you can see the
difference compared to last year I'm
looking forward to pitching
um and then I kind of I've been
consistently hitting the Mounds since
the end of the season so he's been
practicing since the end of the season
I'm guessing so here that's on the right
is how he used to have his glove in the
set position and on the left is where
he's pulling his uniform over it and
what you got to look at is the thumb
the opening of the glove because if he's
digging in there with his hand to change
the grip
the opening might flare up or not flare
up right you know in the thumb area over
here
now you can't see that area because his
Jersey's over it so it makes sense I
just never really
seen a pitcher do this before so I
wanted to look into it and you know
brush up on my Japanese and I found the
answers I was looking for now here's all
three of his pitches in this game
against Australia fastball curveball
slider pretty nice
to have that much going on in your wind
up and be you know pretty consistent and
then make three different pitches not
bad in this game he pitched pretty well
this fastball there a little higher
fastball High fast ball higher fastball
this one's kind of in the zone gets
smoked but caught for an out then
there's the curve nice little loopy
curve induces the ground ball kick save
and a beauty gonna throw it out Japan is
winning seven nothing there's a fastball
ground out if you want to see Team Japan
you can use code John Boy and get 20 off
from SeatGeek because if they're in the
semis uh in the finals
go check them out and you can see this
in person
wears a baggy Jersey on purpose to hide
his glove and I just never seen that
before and I want to thank my dude jarv
from Oz who is watching this sorry about
team Australia losing this game jarv but
he pointed out to me hey have you ever
seen that before and I was like I have
not seen that before and then I dove in
and now everyone's seen it and if you
like these videos and you want to see
more you can subscribe to the channel
because that helps us out and makes me
uh want to keep doing them I appreciate
it thank you very much