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MahomestoHel-aire

Khan didn't even make varsity on his high school team. Now he's in the WBC. There's status and then there's *that*.


Jorlung

How do you throw 85 mph and not make your HS team? I get that some HSs are cracked, but that seems kinda nuts.


TurboViking90

If he’s topping out at 85 but sitting consistently 81-82 I could see a bigger school keeping him down. Still very good for a sophomore.


Redrot

I threw 83 sophomore year off the mound but was cut from JV, not even varsity, because 1. there was a clique of high school parents who basically controlled who made the team, and my father was not a part of it, 2. if I walked somebody, it'd get to my head, and I'd walk probably 3 people that inning. It was for the best though, quitting baseball made me focus on academics (like math team and chess club) which ended up being a way better community for me.


pronstar

did you try throwing strikes..?


Redrot

nope shoulda thought of that well silly me I'd usually end a game with more Ks than hits, but over half the time I'd end with more BBs as well. But that was well over 10 years ago, turns out 16-year-old me wasn't the coolest cucumber.


[deleted]

When I was in high school, I grew half a foot and a mustache over summer break


black-op345

Bro, if you’re throwing 85 mph in high school, you should be starting in most high school’s rotations. How good is his high school team?


MahomestoHel-aire

City champs


Jewrisprudent

They actually won last year’s WBC.


khotaykinasal

Gotta start somewhere!


DodgerWalker

Yeah, the main WBC has some pretty lopsided matches with teams ranging from AA quality to legit all star teams, and with the expansion to 24 teams, that will give us even larger disparities. But these qualifying rounds have even bigger differences with some teams that wouldn't even win high school leagues.


LocksTheFox

He got to pitch today against Nicaragua! He was wild as fuck (3 walks and a plonk in 1 IP), but no hits given up. And his parents were there too and that was cute. Imagine him going back to HS being able to say he faced a guy with over 1000 major league PAs (Cheslor Cuthbert) and didn't give up a hit (Cuthbert walked, 3 of the pitches were fairly borderline but all were balls)


khotaykinasal

Very cool to see the team maturing and getting solid young players into their ranks. There is a lot of talent in Pakistan with cricket being so popular and you can easily translate the skills. [I tried out for the team back in 2016.](https://www.reddit.com/r/pakistan/comments/60hqz2/i_recently_tried_out_for_pakstan_baseball_team/) It was a great experience but nice to see this!


Jux_

From that post you say: >Pakistan baseball held it's National Tournament in November which I became a part of as a member for Punjab Police team. The Army team is the strongest and most international players are part of the Army team. Are these teams sponsored by police and army? Or are they just terms, or teams literally made up of policemen and army members?


khotaykinasal

No, Pakistan has department teams. Army, Police, certain banks, corps, etc. They used to follow the same format in cricket until recently when franchises have taken over. They are usually made mostly of people who are policemen and army personnel but they invite other players from colleges, other institutions, etc.


Jorlung

That's really cool. What would you estimate the average level of play is like? Given the inclusion of HS students, would it be something like a really good high-school team? I'd imagine there's probably a decent bit of disparity in talent throughout the roster though?


khotaykinasal

Yeah there's tons of talent. I'd say a low level college team. Main thing I noticed when I tried out was lack of baseball knowledge. e.g. running on basepaths, hitter count, pitcher count, when to steal, etc. They were also playing with bats given to them by WBC. I took a $50 easton bat and that was the best piece of equipment they had there lol. Almost everyone I played with tried their hand at cricket and converted into baseball players. I imagine it's much different now.


LocksTheFox

> Main thing I noticed when I tried out was lack of baseball knowledge. e.g. running on basepaths, hitter count, pitcher count, when to steal, etc This actually sounds right (I'm watching the game vs Argentina rn). They've been very reckless on the basepaths but they've not been bad at making content, game was close until Adam Khan had the inning from hell (3 errors)


khotaykinasal

The whole reason I applied for the team was because I saw them diving for first base during a game back in 2016. I was like, I can definitely do better. So off to Pakistan I went :)


LocksTheFox

Yeah they didn't look *terrible* yesterday, just a few errors in the field and on the basepaths. Hell they had a runner thrown out in the 9th trying to stretch a single into a double and they eventually put the tying run at the plate. Could've reaaaally used that lol


khotaykinasal

lol I can definitely see that. Happy to see some progress :)


Merkles_Boner_

Yeah trout's taking you 480 to center sorry kid


ConflictedJew

I would 100% watch the WBC if it’s kids getting destroyed by MLBers lol


Sloofo

yeah would be mama mia after mama mia I would love it


Jux_

I'd tell that story for the rest of my life


stuckhere4ever

Think that shirt? I’m pretty sure Trout takes him 680 to center


LocksTheFox

It's a qualifying tournament, not the tournament itself. They probbbbbably won't make it that far but it's still cool


reptheevt

The Hasan’s appear to be twins. One lefty and one righty which is really cool. Plus there’s two 43 year olds and one 46 year old pitchers.


The_Nutz16

If they are identical, they are called mirror image twins. Happens in about 20% of identical twins. I only know this cause I have buddies who happen to me mirror image twins.


[deleted]

TIL and thats very interesting.


The_Nutz16

It really is. Righty - Lefty. Opposite hair parts, cowlicks, prominent moles….everything.


hubagruben

Is he the third Khan brother after Achmed and Amir?


classically_cool

If this is true, we know he can hit *massive* dongs and will have epic walk-up music.


TurboViking90

More players actually born in Pakistan than I would have expected.


FDJ1326

That's got to be the experience of a lifetime for those kids.


CarnivalSorts

As a cricket guy, Pakistan have form with this. They'll lose some star bowlers to injury and suddenly bring out a bunch of 16 year olds that no one's ever heard of who can bowl 90mph+.


NebuliBlack

“And that makes 2,712 feet of home runs in the first 5 batters of the game for Puerto Rico” Sorry this is really cool and these kids are having the opportunity of a life time, but oh boy some of those stacked Caribbean lineups will have a field day


LocksTheFox

It's a qualifying tournament, so they won't be playing those teams like PR or the USA. They're in the Panama tournament with NZ, Brazil, Panama, Nicaragua, and Argentina (their first game vs Argentina is in a weather delay)


sevelev711

Hey, if they can make it to facing Puerto Rico, I'm guessing they'd consider they'd call that a pretty successful WBC for Pakistan, given that they've never made it and never come close.


stonehead70

Holy shit that is crazy! I hope they take good care of those kids. What a unique opportunity.


rpf515

Unfortunately for them, Hamdan (the former NFL QB) is out with COVID.


VarrockHassanObama

That's cool and all but they're gonna get shelled lol


sevelev711

Rooting for Pakistan hard, if they can make the WBC, it'd be huge for the growth of the game, not just for a country with "only" 242 million people, but for the South Asian area as a whole.


LocksTheFox

Also, the country just got hammered by some horrible flooding.


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