Shohei Ohtani is a designated hitter and starting pitcher for the Los Angeles Angels in MLB. He started his career in 2018 in the major leagues. After his performance in 2021, he became the experts’ pick and gained fame as ‘Shotime’.
Since 2021, Shohei’s exceptional two-way style has made him one of the league’s most valuable players. He became the highest-paid individual in 2023. Many people know the records he has already broken, but little do they know about the athletic background of this prodigy.
Shohei Ohtani was in the media’s attention even before he came to the USA. He got offers from major clubs before joining Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). But he decided to stay there to prepare himself for the largest baseball league in the world. Many fans are unaware of the source of Shohei’s charming nature and humble attitude, which helped him become who he is right now.
Shohei Ohtani hails from Iwate, Japan
Shohei Ohtani was born on July 5, 1994. He’s from Ōshū, Iwate, in Japan. His hometown is Mizusawa, Iwate, Japan. Shohei had a sports upbringing at home. Kayoko Otani, the mother of Shohei, was a national-level badminton player, and his father, Toru Otani, was an amateur baseball player in the Japan Industrial League. Both of them are Japanese and first met in high school.
Toru has coached his sons by himself. Shohei credited his father for teaching him respect for equipment even in dissatisfaction and humble behavior. “His advice was basic, but has stuck with me,” Ohtani mentioned. “They’re things I’ve heard at every stage. Like hustling. It’s important to do, but the attitude with which you approach it is also meaningful”.
23 years old and 18 years old with mom and dad pic.twitter.com/XoJMCdW7Xe
— 大谷翔平 ¹⁷ 🦄 Ohtani Shohei ¹⁷ (@shoheisaveus) July 5, 2018
Shohei’s training started at home. From an early age, he showed his natural talent for sports. Ohtani got the nickname ‘yakyū shōnen’, which refers to “a kid who lives, eats and breathes baseball“. In the family of five, he is the youngest, after his sister Yuka and brother Ryuta. His elder brother is also a baseball player for the Kochi Fighting Dogs at Toyota Motor East Japan. His sister Yuka, now a nurse, played volleyball in high school.
Shohei started playing in various sports and excelled in them as well. Besides his interest in baseball, young Ohtani was passionate about swimming. According to his baseball coach, he had the potential to become an Olympic participant in swimming. Shohei could pitch at 99 mph when he was only 18.
Despite having the opportunity to get into powerhouses like Osaka and Yokohama in big cities, Shohei chose to live close to home. He attended Hanamaki High School. He was also selected for the under-18 national team. His inspiration was the left fielder of Tokyo’s Yomiuri Giants, Hideki Matsui.
Ohtani received the offer to join the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters (HNF) as a first-drafted candidate in 2012, at just the age of 18. Since then, he has been on the media’s camera constantly. After dominating the Nippon Professional Baseball for 5 years, LAA got the deal of Shohei with a $2.3 million signing bonus, and the Fighters got a $20 million posting fee.
Despite Shohei’s high profile and net worth of $50 million in the current year, his humble attitude remains the same. He lets his parents, Toru and Kayoko Otani, manage his accounts. His mother deposits $1000 every month to give Ohtani financial awareness, but as per reports, he rarely uses them.
Shohei got much larger after his MLB debut. He often got injured in his six-year major league career. But that doesn’t stop him from breaking Hall of Famer Babe Ruth’s records. The 29-year-old-year-old is currently in recovery and will skip the rest of the season. Fans are waiting for his comeback to see more ‘Shotime’ in the upcoming years.