Todd Van Steensel Dissects His Strikeout of Shohei Ohtani in Epic Video

The Australian pitcher was star struck when faced off against Ohtani in the World Baseball Classic.

Shohei Ohtani is currently on top of the baseball world after leading Japan to a World Baseball Classic championship, so of course fans are starstruck when they see him in person. That reaction appears to be the same for his international opposition as well. 

Before he was named the WBC MVP, Ohtani and Japan faced Australia in pool play, where they dominated in the 7–1 win. This is where Australian pitcher Todd Van Steensel was completely in awe when he Ohtani walk to the plate. During the game, no one would know he was so intimidated, but the hurler posted a hilarious video in which he narrated Ohtani’s entire at-bat against him. 

Absolutely nobody asked for this, but this is a fun little breakdown of what went through my head as I faced Shohei Ohtani in the WBC

My main thought was “If he hits a home run, he’s supposed to. He’s the best… but if you get him out, that’s a fun memory to have forever” 😊 pic.twitter.com/FAOF76SHh7

— Todd Van Steensel (@toddvs35) March 23, 2023

Van Steensel was in complete shock that he threw a strike in his first pitch but quickly began to unravel, finding himself in a 3–1 hole. He proceeded to throw two straight strikes to strike out the all-time great. Even down 7–0, he was on top of the world. 

“Oh my God. What just happened? Act cool, Todd,” he said in the video. “I try to act cool, but in my head I’m saying to myself, ‘I just struck out the best baseball player we have ever seen . . . ever.’

“I can’t believe it,” he continued. “This is better than Lego.”