This season, four no-hit no-run achievers have been born in professional baseball. This is the most in the postwar record. Akira Hiroo, a sports writer, said, “This is probably due to the introduction of ballistic measuring instruments such as” Trackman. ” I am now able to learn. “
Photo = Jiji Press Photo
Lotte’s Roki Sasaki, who has achieved a perfect game and is pleased with the winning ball, = April 10, 2022, Chiba ZOZO Marine Stadium
“Unusual situation” since the beginning of professional baseball
Every year, some “unusual records” pop out in professional baseball, but this season, “no hit no run outbreaks” are probably the best. Four cases have already been born.
April 10 Roki Sasaki (Lotte) against Orix* Perfect game
May 11 Nao Higashihama (Softbank) Seibu Battle
June 7 Shota Imanaga (DeNA) against Nippon-Ham Fighters
June 18 Yoshinobu Yamamoto (Orix) Seibu Battle
No-hitter no-run is a game in which the pitcher wins with no hits and no runs. A match that wins not only with no hits and no runs, but also with no four dead balls and no missteps is a “perfect game”. Both records generally refer to the record of a single pitcher, but achievements by multiple pitchers are also “reference records”.
No hit no run has been achieved 97 times by 86 people so far. It’s been 86 years since professional baseball started this year, so it’s about once a year.
However, it has already been four times this season. Including the perfect game of Sasaki, Higashihama has no left on base with 2 walks, and Imanaga and Yamamoto have a semi-perfect game with 1 walk and all are high level.
In addition, Sasaki recorded perfect up to eight times in the match against Nippon-Ham on April 17. Yudai Ohno of Chunichi missed a big record in the match against Hanshin on May 6th, when he was hit in the 10th inning without the support of his allies, although he was perfect in the 9th inning.
No-hit no-run four times in the season is tied for second place with 1943, following five times in 1940, but two precedents are prewar stories. Before and after the war, there was a shortage of supplies, and because used balls were also used, the balls did not fly, resulting in an extremely low throw.
In a blessed environment that is incomparable to that time, why are pitchers setting big records that overwhelm batters one after another?
Korona-ka alone cannot explain
For one thing, due to the Korona-ka, positive people were generated in groups in each team, and it was not possible to make a satisfactory line. The batter builds his body from the spring camp and throws in a bat to improve his condition. In addition, the team usually fixes the batting line and raises the scoring ability by making each batter aware of the “role” and standing in the turn at bat.
In addition to lack of practice due to the succession of positive people, it is said that the inability to hit the line satisfactorily led to “low hitting”.
That may be a factor, but it cannot explain this phenomenon by itself. There is no doubt that the background of this extreme “throwing” was the “throwing innovation” that has occurred in the last few years.
