Breaking Down Shohei Ohtani’s History With Team Japan at the Prestigious World Baseball Classic

Like a samurai, two-way wonder Shohei Ohtani took the World Baseball Classic by storm. Long before the WBC commenced, the whole of Japan awaited the arrival of their star boy, who’s approaching an almost $500 million contract in Major League Baseball. Now, without delivering any surprises, Shohei Ohtani was named the MVP of Classic Pool B in the World Baseball Classic.

But is this Shotime’s first WBC appearance? Or has the 28-year-old represented Japan at this stage before? Long before he made his MLB debut with the Los Angeles Angels, the Japanese-born two-way wonder spent five years in the NPB representing the Hokkaidō Nippon-Ham Fighters.

Shohei Ohtani was a Nippon Baseball player before entering the World Baseball Classic

From the very start of his career, Shohei Ohtani expressed his interest in playing in the USA instead of ever playing in the Japanese professional baseball league. However, after long negotiations, Ohtani signed with the Hokkaidō Nippon-Ham Fighters in 2013. Two years after his Rookie Year, Ohtani signed a whopping 100M yen salary.

In the five years he spent with the Nippon Fighters, Ohtani won the Japan Series in 2016, made five consecutive All-Star appearances, and also won the Pacific League MVP in 2016.

Details about Shohei Ohtani’s amazing records and awards

From the various accolades Shohei Ohtani has won in his baseball career, which commenced in 2013, his most esteemed award will be his 2021 American League MVP award with the Angels. Even in 2022, Shohei Ohtani managed another potentially MVP-winning season before being outdone by Aaron Judge.

Apart from that, Shohei Ohtani has made two All-Star appearances in the Major League, along with winning the AL Rookie of the Year in 2018. Through 2021 and 2022, he also made it to the All-MLB First and Second teams.

Shohei Ohtani has a power reserving pitching style

Until today, we’ve seen Shohei Ohtani in the outfield, as a designated hitter, or as a starting ace. But a few months prior to the commencement of the World Baseball Classic, conversations regarding Shohei Ohtani as a closer or reliever surfaced. While speaking about that through an interpreter, Ohtani said, “If you’re going to pitch as a starter [in the WBC], you’d have to be built up to 60, 70 pitches. So you have to take that into account.”

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He continued to add, “It could depend in part on whether I start or pitch as a middle reliever or closer. I don’t know if they’ll say I could just hit in the first stage.”

When was Shohei Ohtani’s first WBC game?

Back in 2017, when Ohtani was still in Japan, he was put on the 28-man roster for the Japanese baseball team. However, due to an ankle injury, Ohtani was forced to withdraw from the WBC. After 2017 crediting the pandemic, the WBC scheduled in 2021 was shifted to 2023.

As a result, the 2023 World Baseball Classic was Ohtani’s first appearance in the global tournament.

Shohei Ohtani’s coach and preparations for the World Baseball Classic

Ahead of the World Baseball Classic, Ohtani spoke about how his potential role would play a significant role as simply a hitter, or a starter or a reliever or closer, in his preparations. The two-way wonder, who was most recently named the MVP of Classic Pool B in the WBC, also spoke about the emotional preparations it takes.

He said, “If you’re told you’re going to start and that happens, the emotional preparation … it’s not the same as battling all season and them asking you to do that in the postseason. Also, taking into account the time of year, if it’s something outside of what you imagine doing, I think it’s hard.”

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In introspect, he also spoke about how early he’d have to start preparing given his role. Ohtani said, “If I’m a middle reliever or closer, there’s no need to speed up anything. That being said, if I’m going to be a starter. I’ll have to start up early.”

Japan is proud of Shohei Ohtani

Ohtani’s two-way dominance in the ongoing WBC has helped Japan win their third WBC title Apart from his 12 at-bats, where he hit almost everything, the 2021 AL MVP started against Team China and pitched four no-hit innings, before finally allowing one hit with five strikeouts.

As expected, after winning the first four games of the tournament with an unbelievable scoring margin of 38-8, Japan defeated the United States of America in the WBC final, as Ohtani conquered his Angels teammate Mike Trout in the death.

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