Tatsuya Imai talked about why he started throwing a shorter ‘reverse’ slider a few years ago on the popular Japanese YouTube channel Tokusan TV last December.
“The type of pitches you can throw are limited based on your own body. My goal is to make hitters feel like it’s my fastball. That’s how I get whiffs.”
He doesn’t want significant horizontal break because this shape tunnels better with his running fastball.
One of my favorite things to do for big plays is find all of the calls from it, from each perspective, and compile it into one video. Here’s are the calls from the Braylon Mullins shot, in order…
-CBS: Ian Eagle, Bill Raftery, Grant Hill
-Duke radio (my favorite ironically and unironically): David Shumate
-UConn radio: Mike Crispino
-UConn student radio
-Westwood One: Scott Graham