"He has a good slider, but his best pitch is his fastball. He has high spin (rate), so he has 'hop,' and with a lot of guys in this league, we don't see 'hop' nearly as much as you would see it in affiliated ball. You think it's going to come down, and it never comes down. It misses the barrel. You pop it up a lot," Hallmark explained outside the ValleyCats clubhouse.
"We set up the machine today to replicate more 'hop' than he has, so when we saw what he has, it looked almost normal. I think that that helped," Hallmark said, highlighting the team's preparation against Sako's unique pitching style.
"He’s just been so good, I think it even stunned him a little bit," Manager Greg Tagert stated about Sako's performance prior to facing the ValleyCats, underscoring the challenge the team faced.
"It kind of sparked into us, 'Oh yeah, we can hit this guy. He's not invincible,'" Hallmark added, reflecting on the team's confidence boost after successfully hitting Sako.
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