Tao Le talks about his experience in the major leagues with Shohei Ohtani and Chu Aote, praising his training concentration

Tao Le. (File photo)

[Sports Center/Comprehensive Report] Kyle Tyler, a foreign player who plays for CITIC Brothers this year, recently accepted an exclusive interview with the foreign media "Sportskeeda" and shared his experience in the major leagues in the past and coming to Taiwan this year.

Tao Le has three years of major league experience and has played for the Angels, Padres and Marlins. In 2021, he will also be a teammate with the Japanese superstar Shohei Ohtani with the Angels. When asked about the feeling of playing with stars such as Ohtani and Mike Trout, Tao Le said it was incredible. He revealed that during his time with the Angels, Trout was almost constantly affected by injuries, but he never missed any retraining and rehabilitation.

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And Ohtani was always a talented superstar at that time, just like now. Tao Le recalled: "He would first train in the batting cage, then go to the bullpen to pitch, and then have retraining on the same day." Tao Le said that Ohtani and Truout were among the first to arrive at the stadium, and almost always the last to leave. "It is never surprising that they will become the top players, because they treat all training as a game, and every aspect is 100% focused and goes all out."

This year Tao Le came to Taiwan to join CITIC Brothers, but he played in the second team throughout the season and never made it to the first team. Talking about what impressed him about Taiwanese baseball, Tao Le said that the biggest difference he noticed is that everyone practices very hard, whether they are senior veterans or rookies who have just joined the team. "I know it is the same in the United States, but in Taiwan, the level is about ten times that of the United States. Their daily team training and additional training will last 2 to 3 hours; in comparison, in the United States, we may only practice for 1 hour at most."

Tao Le also mentioned that Taiwan's style of play puts more emphasis on driving the ball into the field, rather than pursuing home runs or a large number of long hits. "Taiwanese players would rather hit several consecutive foul balls and then hit the ball into a ground ball in a certain direction than strike out three times just to try to hit a home run. This can be very frustrating for pitchers, because batters just don't get out easily and will continue to fight, resulting in a large number of pitches accumulated at the beginning of the game."

Tao Le said that as Taiwanese hitters become more and more familiar with his pitches, he must also change his pitches and use every pitch in his arsenal more frequently. At the same time, he must work harder to improve his ball control ability on fastballs.

Tao Le (left). (File photo)