Teammates were turned foes in the World Baseball Classic this year when Shohei Ohtani pitched to Mike Trout in the event's championship game.
Fox Sports' Joe Davis referred to the encounter as "a dream scenario, within a dream scenario" as the two best players in baseball squared off in the Team USA vs. Japan battle.
And months after the unusual experience, Trout is finally speaking about it. He explained to Mookie Betts on the Dodgers outfielder's Bleacher Report show "On Base" that he went into the at-bat full of self-belief but with no experience against his teammate.
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"I was like, I'm going to get a chance to get him right here," Trout told. "I haven't faced him in live BP (batting practice), nothing. I haven't seen him, I just see him from behind and I know what he can do from behind."
Mike Trout finally talks about facing Ohtani at WBC 👀 pic.twitter.com/pNFzMFYbZz
— B/R Walk-Off (@BRWalkoff) June 21, 2023
Trout's at-bat against Ohtani lasted five pitches. The two-way star's first pitch to his teammate was a slider that tailed just out of the zone, allowing Trout to get ahead. The second came in a lot hotter — at 100 mph — and evened the count.
Trout lamented his swing and miss at that fastball, which was low in the zone.
"I missed some pitches I should've hit, like that pitch ... right there," Trout said, referring to Ohtani's first fastball.
Another triple-digit heater put Ohtani a strike away from winning the contest. He wasted one pitch in the dirt before ending the at-bat with what he knows best: his slider. It rolled from one side of the strike zone to the other, blindsiding Trout and securing Japan its third WBC victory.
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Trout explained that he was a bit disappointed in the result of the at-bat, but he believes there was a reason he failed to make contact against Ohtani.
"(As I walk to the plate, I'm thinking) I gotta go deep here. I'm not kidding," he explained. "I think it might've messed me up because it took me out of my approach, but there was one thing on my mind and I was trying to take him deep. There's no other explanation."
Trout explained that he has only ever gone to the plate looking for a homer and found success once in his career. That came in 2013, when he hit for the cycle. Every other time he has taken that approach, he believes he has made an out.
Trout was still happy for Ohtani, who he called a "good dude, great teammate and one of those guys who always wants to win."
He also said that the two haven't talked much about the at-bat during the 2023 MLB season.
