One NBA player is seeing what Shohei Ohtani has been doing this postseason and thinking to himself, “I could have done that.”
Golden State Warriors guard Brandin Podziemski spoke this week to Nick Friedell in a feature for The Athletic. In the feature, Podziemski discussed his youth playing baseball as a left-handed pitcher. He called baseball his first love and said that he could have been “the white Shohei” if he had pursued the sport further.
“I think I could be the white Shohei,” Podziemski was quoted as saying. “I think I could do both [pitch and hit]. Maybe not to the degree he can do it, but I think I could for sure do both. Pitch, play the field, hit, all those things.”
Friedell notes that Podziemski pitched and played in the outfield as a youth, even hitting .469 at his high school, St. John’s Northwestern Military Academy in Delafield, Wisc. Podziemski ultimately gave up his baseball career to pursue basketball full-time by college. But he did manage to hit 86 mph on a ceremonial first pitch for the San Francisco Giants in 2023.
Brandin Podziemski’s first pitch at the Giants game. Not too shabby off the mound. pic.twitter.com/xTz32fANhR
— Shayna Rubin (@ShaynaRubin) August 3, 2023
You can read Friedell’s full feature on Podziemski at the link here.
Still only 22 years old, Podziemski was Golden State’s first-round draft pick in 2023 (No. 19 overall). He has since become a fairly regular starter for the team and is currently averaging 11.7 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 2.7 assists per game for the Warriors in his third NBA season.
Podziemski certainly isn’t lacking in confidence and even earned backlash last season for some seemingly arrogant comments about his star teammate Steph Curry. When it comes to Ohtani however, he has been doing things this postseason that we may not see for another century (much less from another currently active professional athlete).
