From Dodger Insider magazine: Ohtani’s Path to Greatness
Editor’s Note: This story is from the pages of Dodger Insider magazine, 2024 Volume 2. Magazines are available at entry at parking stands at Dodger Stadium.
by Cary Osborne
If one had never heard the name Shohei Ohtani, it would have taken them one at-bat to realize what an attraction he is. The moment his name was announced for his first plate appearance as a Dodger in the team’s home opener on March 28, tens of thousands of fans stood up and gave him a standing ovation.
But one would be hard pressed to not know the name Shohei Ohtani.
Before he arrived in the Major Leagues, even back to when he was a teenager in 2012 deciding whether to pursue a professional career in his home country of Japan or in North America, Ohtani has been a fascination.
The two-way player with the rarest of talents — elite hitter and elite pitcher — has overdelivered in his Major League career.
The public marvels at the exit velocity he has achieved as a hitter and velocity he has thrown at as a pitcher.
But those who have seen him up close marvel at other qualities that help describe his greatness.
After the 29-year-old signed a 10-year contract in the offseason with the Dodgers, he began to show — without swinging a bat or throwing a baseball in a game — some of those qualities.
It was December, and it was chilly in the mornings at Dodger Stadium.
Through the dewy early hours, with the sun still rising in the sky, Ohtani was running sprints on the damp outfield grass at Dodger Stadium — putting in work for the season ahead.
Five stories up, Dodger President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman could look out the window of his office and see the newest Dodger eager to begin.
“The thing that stood out to us in the (first) two months we had a chance to be around him and get to know him better is just how purposeful he is in everything he does,” Friedman says. “Watching his process and how intentional every rep he takes — whether it’s in the weight room or in the cage — and the level of focus and discipline that goes into everything makes the success he’s enjoyed, the things he’s overcome, feel way less accidental and really speaks to not only the talent but also the mindset and focus and discipline that goes into everything he does.”
Dodger third base coach Dino Ebel saw Ohtani at his introduction to the Major Leagues. The 2018 season was Ebel’s final year in his 13-year stint on the Los Angeles Angels coaching staff.
It wasn’t swinging a bat or throwing a baseball in a game that impressed Ebel in his first impression of a then 23-year-old Ohtani.
“When I first met him, it was like, ‘Wow, this guy is 6–4, probably 215, 220 pounds at the time, and he’s running 3.8 (seconds) down the line,’ and I’m thinking, ‘This is going to be really fun,’” Ebel recalls.
The Angels manager at the time was Mike Scioscia — the former Dodger great and two-time World Series champion catcher who spent 13 seasons from 1980–92 playing for the Dodgers. Scioscia was in the Angels’ recruitment process for Ohtani during the 2018 offseason, and what he learned early on was the 2016 Nippon Professional Baseball Pacific League MVP had a curious mind. Ohtani was vocal during meetings with the Angels, which also showed to Scioscia that he was self-aware and had already visualized his future.
Before he played one Major League game, comparisons were already being made to Babe Ruth.
“I think that he was going to chart his own course,” Scioscia says. “If you look at the ability to hit with the impact that a Babe Ruth had and also pitch with that kind of impact, I think (Ohtani) was going to be one of a kind.
That has been the case.
Ohtani is a two-time American League MVP, the only player in American League/National League history with at least 100 career home runs as a batter and 600 career strikeouts as a pitcher, and last season’s AL home run champion (among a litany of other historic accomplishments).
“He wants to be the best player who ever put on a uniform,” Scioscia says, “and he has that physical and mental ability to be that player.”
Being a good teammate also matters.
In the early days of Spring Training in February, teammates were getting to know Ohtani — and for some of them, know him better.
Freddie Freeman had short interactions with Ohtani in the past when the two were opponents. One such meeting was at the 2022 All-Star Game at Dodger Stadium, when Ohtani also met Freeman’s son, Charlie, who enthusiastically took a picture with the then-Angels All-Star.
When Ohtani and Freeman greeted each other as Dodger teammates for the first time at Camelback Ranch in Arizona, Ohtani’s first words were, “Where’s Charlie?”
It meant a lot to Freeman.
“For someone to remember your son’s name after meeting them two years prior and wanting to meet him, I think that’s what makes Shohei, Shohei,” Freeman says. “It’s not just a great baseball player. He’s great off the field, and he’s just a great person. So I think we’re all going to be lucky to be around him for his next 10 years.”
Ohtani’s first public impression as a Dodger was on Field 1 at Camelback Ranch.
Again, it wasn’t a game. It didn’t count. He simply took batting practice on the field inside a cage surrounded by teammates while fans watched behind a fence.
Fans wanted it, and he delivered.
Five swings, five home runs.
It wasn’t the home runs that were important. It was something else.
The left-handed hitter’s intent wasn’t to put on a show, but his intent was seen in where each ball landed.
Right field. Right-center field. Center field. Left-center. Left field.
Ohtani created a fan with his home runs, starting his batting practice by testing his power to the pull-side, the big part of the field and the opposite field.
Manager Dave Roberts noticed.
“I would guess that Shohei’s been very deliberate since he was a young child,” Roberts says. “Even watching his documentary and him putting things in the universe and saying things that he wanted to do or writing them down, and then now to see it on a daily basis. Everything he does is intentional.”
The batting practice pitcher was eight paces from Ohtani. When Ohtani swung off a tee, it would be from the same height every day. He took the same number of swings every day.
“It’s no wonder why he’s so consistent and so great,” Roberts says. “People see the talent, the physical stature, but you don’t get to see behind the curtain on what it takes to be that great of a ballplayer. I’m just amazed.”
Ohtani doubled in his first Dodger Stadium at-bat as a Dodger. He reached base three times in four plate appearances. He later lamented how he couldn’t join Mookie Betts and Freeman, who also homered in the game.
In making his own first impression at Dodger Stadium, he also had his own first impression.
“I’m very grateful now as part of the Dodgers being able to be received by the Dodger fans,” Ohtani said. “Obviously, I’ve been here before as an opponent player, so it was a little intimidating, but I’m very grateful for the fans — and there were a lot of them.”
