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From Japan to Peru: Onozaki twins chase baseball dreams together with Pistol Shrimp · Illinois Valley - Shaw Local

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  Speaker 1: From Japan to Peru. Onazaki twins chased baseball dreams together
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  with Pistol Shrimp. Written by Bill Frescos, this article is
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  being read by an automated voice brought to you by Everlet.
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  More than six thousand miles from their hometown, Japanese twin
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  brothers Yamato and Takaru on Ozaki have reunited in the
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  Illinois Valley this summer to take the next step in
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  their baseball careers with the Pistol Shrimp. They began their
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  careers in Japan before both moving to the United States
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  to play junior college baseball on opposite ends of the country,
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  with Yamato in New York and Takaru in Oregon. This summer,
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  they're back playing on the same field, and it wasn't
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  by accident. Even when we were apart, we always hoped
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  we'd have the chance to play together again, Yamato said.
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  We still talked about baseball all the time and pushed
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  each other even from far away, talking about our games
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  and what we can improve. Playing together now means a lot.
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  For many folks, sports can serve as a distraction from
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  the heavier aspects of life. The Onazaki twins passion for
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  baseball was shaped by tragedy after the devastating twenty eleven
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  earthquake and tsunami that tore through Japan, including their hometown
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  of Sendai. We both started playing when we were about
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  twelve years old, Yamato said, But when we were younger
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  than that, Japan had a huge disaster. At that time,
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  we felt really down. Then we started to watch baseball
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  and it helped take our minds away and give us
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  something positive. We thought, we'll always have baseball, and we did.
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  That became a big reason we started to like it.
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  There are many Japanese players in the MLB whom the
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  brothers said they look up to, but former Yankees reliever
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  Masahiro Tanaka sticks out most to Takaru, who's also a lengthy,
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  right handed pitcher. My hometown in Japan had a professional
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  team nearby that I like to watch play, Takaru said.
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  There was a pitcher I really liked, Masahiro Tanaka. He
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  pitched really well in Japan and went on to play
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  in the MLB. Watching the way he pitched and his
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  success inspired me to start playing when I was younger.
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  While Tanaka served as his initial inspiration, Takearu said that
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  as he has grown and learned more about the game.
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  He has tried to model his approach after former Chicago
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  Cub and current San Diego padre You Darvish. Darvish always
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  thinks about baseball when he wakes up, when he goes
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  to sleep. Everything he does is intentional and about how
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  to improve. He said. I like that mindset. He also
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  uses science in his training, and everything he says makes
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  sense to me from a pitching standpoint. Yamato, a two
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  way player both pitching and playing shortstop, immediately pointed to
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  Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Otani as one of his inspirations. However,
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  it's not just because of Otani's ability to successfully pitch
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  and hit. Rather, Yamado first took a liking to Otani
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  simply because of his demeanor on and off the diamond.
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  It's not just baseball, Yamato said, I like his personality.
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  He's a good person. He does small things like picking
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  up garbage in the dugout that is just as important
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  to me as being a good baseball player. Although Yamato
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  first admired Shohei Otani for his demeanor off the field,
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  he said, watching Otani's success as a two way player
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  also played a major role in shaping his own path.
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  In high school, I was mostly focused on hitting, but
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  watching him made me want to try pitching too, he said.
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  Then I got that chance during my first year in
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  junior college, and I want to continue to do it.
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  When asked what stands out most as differences between American
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  and Japanese baseball culture, both emphasize distinct differences between how
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  practice is conducted. Practice time was the biggest difference. Yamato said.
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  In Japan we practice for six hours after school. Sometimes
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  in America it's more like two or three hours. Even
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  though practice this says, are much longer overseas. The twins
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  said a six hour practice didn't always mean six hours
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  of actually practicing. It's shorter, but practice here is very efficient.
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  Everything is planned. Takaru said, after one drill, you move
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  right into the next. In Japan, sometimes you spend a
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  lot of time waiting. As for non baseball cultural differences,
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  the twins pointed out the obvious the portion sizes for food.
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  Yamato said, with a laugh, pizza is good, but the
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  first time I saw a pepperoni pizza, I didn't think
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  it was for one person. I couldn't finish it. This
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  summer with the Pistol Shrimp will not be the last
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  time the brothers share a field. Both Yamato and Takeru
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  are set to continue their baseball careers together this fall
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  at Mid America and Nazarene University in Kansas, where they
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  will once again play side by side while continuing to
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  chase the same goal they've had since childhood. We want
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  to play professionally one day, Yamato said, anywhere America, Japan, Korea, Taiwan.
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  We just want to keep playing baseball.