來源: The New York Times
網址: https://tinyurl.com/y9yyn6hq
From High School Outfielder to Cardinals Flamethrower
Jordan Hicks: 從高中的外野手變成紅雀的火球投手
When Jordan Hicks played outfield in high school, he noticed a problem with
his throws to second base. Hicks had a very strong arm, but every throw
naturally tailed to the right. Eventually, Hicks learned to aim his throws a
few feet over, and trust them to veer to their target.
當還在高中時，Jordan Hicks是外野手，他注意到他有個問題會發生在他把球丟向二壘手
的時候。他有個非常強壯的肩膀，但是每次他傳球的時候，球都會有個尾勁飄向右邊。最
後，他學會傳球的時候會調整一下向另外一邊幾英呎，然後希望傳球會轉向它們應該去的
地方。
“I kind of mastered it, so I would just throw it and it would land perfectly,
” Hicks said the other day, by his locker in the St. Louis Cardinals’
clubhouse. “It’s something I’ve always had to deal with, that run, so now
I use it as my strength.”
「我好像有學會了，所以後來我只要傳出去然後球就會有完美的落點，」Hicks站在紅雀的
置物櫃旁說到。「那個是我一直得要注意的狀況，那個尾勁，但是現在我把它當做我的強
項。」
Hicks found his calling on the mound, and the Cardinals chose him with Pick
No. 105 in the 2015 draft. Nobody could have known the significance of that
number, which would one day flash on the Busch Stadium scoreboard when Hicks
fired his running two-seam fastball to a major league hitter.
後來Hicks發現他是屬於投手丘的，而在2015年紅雀也以第105順位選秀挑上他。在那時，
沒人知道這"105"代表了什麼重要性，不過當Hicks在紅雀主場對著對手投出他帶有尾勁的
二縫線速球，記分板上閃著105的數字的時候，就知道了。
“I surprised myself with it, really,” said Hicks, who topped out at 96
miles per hour at Cypress Creek High School in Texas, and 100 in the minors.
“I tried to just give it everything I had for a couple of pitches and the
adrenaline was up. It just happened.”
「我那時也真的被自己嚇了一跳，」Hicks說，他在高中投的球速最高96mile，到小聯盟的
時候是100mile。「我只是全力以赴而已，我先丟了幾球，然後腎上腺素飆高，然後就飆出
來了。」
It happened twice on May 20 against Philadelphia’s Odubel Herrera — one
pitch for a foul at 105.1 m.p.h., another for a ball at 105. In the four
seasons measured by Major League Baseball’s Statcast pitch-tracking system,
only the Yankees’ Aroldis Chapman has thrown a pitch as hard, a 105.1 m.p.h.
ball to Baltimore’s J.J. Hardy on July 18, 2016.
那發生在五月20日對費城人Herrera投出來的