TOKYO -- Connor MacDonald wasn’t supposed to be a pitcher. The Brisbane native actually began his career as a first baseman and outfielder, signing with the Astros and reaching Single-A. He reinvented himself and converted to pitching full-time just three years ago.
On Sunday, he was handed the opportunity of a lifetime: He would pitch against Shohei Ohtani and the defending champions, Samurai Japan. With a win, Australia would book its spot in Miami for the quarterfinals.
Naturally, then, his family made its way to Tokyo Dome to catch the contest. But while Connor's parents and uncle were there, it was his brothers, Liam and Callum, who stole the show. Callum, a friendly giant who plays rugby for the Toshiba Brave in Fuchu, Japan, where the national baseball team trained ahead of the tournament, quickly went viral for his enthusiastic responses to his brother's performance.
"That was really emotional," Callum said. "My brother worked so hard, and he would definitely have been feeling nervous up there, but he got given a job to do tonight, and he went and did it. I'm so proud of him."
Liam wasn't planning on being in Tokyo for the tournament, but when he heard that Connor was going to get the ball, well, there wasn't a chance he was going to miss it.
"I was driving home from work on Friday, and then Callum told me he's got the ball against Japan," Liam said. "So I'm like, I can't miss it."
He quickly grabbed a plane ticket and was in his seat to witness his brother dominate the world's most successful World Baseball Classic team, shutting them out for three innings on Sunday night. He was not the only ballplayer in the family, though.
"All four of us boys, we played baseball together," Callum said. "We were all competitive. We all fought against each other growing up, and I stopped playing after I was 17."
As for who the best player was? Callum first admitted it depends on who you asked. When pressed on it, his retort was quick: "You're looking at him, mate."
The brothers quickly became viral stars, but other than a few messages from friends and family, they didn't realize just how wide the videos had spread. When told that lip readers saw Callum yelling, "That's my [expletive] brother out there," he had only one response:
"Hopefully mom doesn't see that."