Yutaka Takagi talks about “the goodness of base running” Part 2
(Part 1: Carefully selected active players who are good at base running >>)
The goodness of base running has nothing to do with fast or slow feet. Yutaka Takagi, who was active as one of the “Super Cartrios” in the ocean (now DeNA), once felt a high sense of base running for the two players. He looked back on the astute base running that is not found in current active players.
Yutaka Takagi felt a sense of base running. What about the giant Motoki and the other?
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――Which of the players Takagi-san actually saw had the most sense of base running?
Yutaka Takagi (hereafter: Takagi) Daisuke Motoki (former giant, current giant head and offense chief coach). It’s not that I’m fast, but there was a “warmth” that made a small gap.
Hitoshi Taneda (former Chunichi, Yokohama) is comparable to that. Both are from the same Uenomiya High School. Perhaps when I was in high school, I was instructed to have that kind of base running consciousness. Whether it was Motoki or Taneda, I thought, “I don’t know baseball well,” while playing against him during his active career.
–Did you have the opportunity to talk to them about base running?
Takagi: I’ve heard “Why are you so good at base running?”, But “(in high school) I was told sourly about base running.” I think that my sense was refined in that guidance.
There are some things that I can’t do no matter how much I teach, but I think I was able to acquire excellent base running skills because I had a good sense from the beginning. Both of them weren’t so fast, but I really felt their astuteness.
――When did you feel the goodness of base running?
Takagi: You knew the psychology of the other person well about how to lead off and overrun. I know that the pitcher doesn’t care about the runners, as he won’t be restrained in this scene. I was sometimes surprised, “Do you take such a lead?” “Do you overrun?” He is aware that if he makes a mistake, he will immediately go to the next base.
That’s something you can’t do without always being aware of it. If you don’t have a sense, you might make a mistake in the width of the lead, but they didn’t have that.
