Czechia Pitcher Who Works As an Electrician Had Coolest Moment at WBC

Czechia pitcher Ondrej Satoria left his final career World Baseball Classic game to a standing ovation in the Tokyo Dome in Japan. | Screengrab on Twitter/ @JomboyMedia

There wasn’t much to play for in Japan’s World Baseball Classic game against Czechia on Tuesday with the latter already eliminated from the tournament, but the casual tilt still carried a very special meaning for one of Czechia’s most captivating stars.

Ondřej Satoria, who works full-time as an electrician, wrote himself into baseball’s history books for striking out Japan’s Shohei Ohtani in the WBC three years ago. Satoria is employed as an electrical controller at ČEZ Group in Ostrava, Poland but soared to international prominence after baffling Ohtani with a changeup that he rather fittingly calls “The Worker.”

Fast forward to 2026, and Satoria was starting in his last-ever career game for Czechia. The right-hander only got into some minor trouble in one early inning but other than that, managed to keep the reigning champs at bay with a final masterful performance.

Satoria exited the game in the fifth inning on 67 pitches after reaching the pitch limit, recording three strikeouts—including one of Blue Jays’ Kazumo Okamoto—over 4.2 shutout innings.

As Satoria was being replaced by Czechia’s Michal Kovala, he walked off the mound to a standing ovation at the Tokyo Dome. Home fans as well as the Japanese players gave the Czechia baseball legend a classy and fitting farewell, with Satoria taking an emotional moment to soak it all in.

Just look at what it means to him:

Czechia's Ondřej Satoria, who is a full-time electrician, leaves his final career game to a standing ovation after throwing 4.2 shutout innings against Japan! pic.twitter.com/o77RnXE6X7

— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) March 10, 2026

And here he is getting another standing ovation after the game:

Team Japan and the Tokyo Dome give Ondřej Satoria a standing ovation after his incredible performance in his final career game for Czechia pic.twitter.com/3Rtd9lafVM

— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) March 10, 2026

Japan was held scoreless through seven innings but finally broke open the game in the bottom of the eighth to clinch a 9-0 win against Czechia. The title defenders will play next on Saturday in Miami against either the Dominican Republic or Venezuela in the quarterfinal.

Czechia’s Ondřej Satoria honored as a national legend for striking out Shohei Ohtani, Lars Nootbaar

It’s a moment Satoria surely won’t soon forget: during pool play in the 2023 World Baseball Classic, the Czechia starter made Japan superstar Shohei Ohtani swing at air. “Gotta go get that baseball,” one of the commentators on the broadcast noted.

In the bottom of the third inning, Satoria threw one of his trick pitches to Ohtani that ended up coming out of his hand wrong. Even he thought at the time it was a bad pitch, but it turned out to be the one that made him famous—and made Ohtani look silly at the plate.

Satoria went on to strike out three of Ohtani’s teammates in Lars Nootbaar, Kensuke Kondoh and Munetaka Murakami.

“It’s really nice for me,” Satoria said of being in Tokyo for this year’s WBC, via MLB.com. “It’s like a reward for my whole life playing baseball because nobody knows me in Czechia. I’m just a regular dude from Ostrava, but here they respect me and have me sign balls.”

The 29-year-old pitcher enjoyed an impressive run in this year’s tournament even though Czechia is heading home early. Satoria pitched 3 2/3 shutout innings in his team’s 5-1 loss to Australia, recording three strikeouts and giving up just one hit.

It would have been quite the storybook ending for Satoria to close out his final WBC game with a win, but he can still tell his electrician coworkers the legendary story of how he struck out Ohtani and bowed out of his last international contest to the thunderous applause of his fans, teammates and rivals alike.

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