49 Fun Facts About Shohei Ohtani

What nickname is Shohei Ohtani known by?

Shotime. The 'Sho' in his given name was chosen to evoke the soaring leaps of the samurai hero Minamoto no Yoshitsune; the 'hei' is the first character of Hiraizumi, a place tied to the same hero.

In 2023 Ohtani donated about 60,000 of which item to Japan's 20,000 elementary schools?

Gloves. He sent youth gloves to every elementary school in the country, writing that he looked forward to one day sharing a field with someone who grew up using one.

In which Japanese prefecture was Ohtani born?

Iwate. Winters there bury the fields in snow, which may be why the prefecture was long seen as a baseball backwater that rarely produced stars.

Ohtani's mother Kayoko was a competitive player in which sport?

Badminton. Kayoko later handled his pro salary too, paying about $1,000 a month into his account to teach him to budget, and his old coach said he barely touched it.

Who coached Ohtani's boyhood baseball teams?

His father. Toru, a car-plant worker and former corporate-league outfielder, felt he had given his elder son's baseball too little time and resolved to make it up with Shohei, the youngest of three.

Which high school did Ohtani choose, staying local rather than joining a big-city powerhouse?

Hanamaki Higashi. Yusei Kikuchi, a pitcher he admired, had just carried its team of local boys to the final of the national spring tournament, and Ohtani enrolled the following year.

What chore did Ohtani's high school coach assign him to teach humility?

Toilet cleaning. His coach gave the job to every pitcher, reasoning that whoever stands on the mound, the highest spot on the field, should do the lowest job afterwards; Ohtani never complained.

Besides baseball, in which sport was Ohtani a competitive athlete growing up?

Swimming. His high school coach also made pitchers swim as training, and the school's swimming coach reckoned Ohtani was fast enough to have reached the Olympics.

Which future Dodgers teammate later broke Ohtani's Japanese high school record for the fastest pitch?

Roki Sasaki. At 17 he was clocked at 163 km/h, about 101 mph, against the 160 Ohtani had reached, and the comparisons with Ohtani began.

Which former Fighters ace had worn the No. 11 jersey the team gave Ohtani?

Yu Darvish. The Fighters offered the teenager their departed ace's number, which might otherwise have been retired, as part of the pitch that persuaded him to start his career in Japan.

Which club did Ohtani cut in December 2017, before naming his seven finalists?

New York Yankees. General manager Brian Cashman said he was told Ohtani leaned towards the West Coast or a smaller market, adding that he couldn't change being a big-market team in the East.

In Japan, Ohtani's pitching-and-hitting act is known as 'nitoryu', a word borrowed from which tradition?

Sword fighting. Nitoryu means wielding a sword in each hand, and at first almost nobody wanted him to keep both: American scouts saw a pitcher, while Japanese clubs wanted the hitter.

What did Ohtani give Joe Kelly's wife after the Dodgers pitcher handed over uniform No. 17?

A Porsche. Ashley Kelly had campaigned online for him to join the Dodgers, even joking she would rename her baby son ShoKai, and the car arrived at her door with the words 'It's yours, from Shohei.'

Ohtani's Fighters beat which club, then Seiya Suzuki's, in 2016's Japan Series?

Hiroshima Carp. The Fighters lost the first two games, then Ohtani's walk-off single in extra innings set off four straight wins and the title.

Where did Ohtani choose to live during his five seasons with the Fighters?

The team dormitory. Anyone else would have rushed to get a place of his own, his old coach said, but Ohtani just liked living close to somewhere he could train.

Why was Ohtani's signing bonus with the Angels in 2017 capped at about $2.3 million?

He was under 25. MLB treats international players that young as amateurs, so by leaving Japan at 23 instead of waiting two years he passed up a deal executives valued at about $200 million.

How did Ohtani's Angels teammates greet him in the dugout after his first MLB home run?

With the silent treatment. Ignored as an old dugout tradition demands, he high-fived a row of invisible teammates until the Angels gave in and mobbed him.

Which award did Ohtani win in November 2018 despite pitching in only 10 games?

AL Rookie of the Year. After a spring training so poor that there was open talk of starting him in the minors, he hit 22 home runs and took 25 of the 30 first-place votes.

In June 2019 Ohtani became the first Japanese-born MLB player to do what?

Hit for the cycle. He homered and doubled, sat through a 36-minute power cut at the Rays' ballpark, then tripled and finished the set with a single in the seventh.

Ohtani became a paid global ambassador for which cryptocurrency exchange in 2021?

FTX. He was paid entirely in cryptocurrency and company shares; a year later the exchange went bankrupt and investors named him in a class-action suit.

Who knocked Ohtani out of the 2021 Home Run Derby's first round?

Juan Soto. Ohtani lost 31-28 in the second swing-off, gave his $150,000 Derby earnings to about 30 Angels trainers and staff, and started the All-Star Game on the mound the next night.

Ohtani's 2021 MVP made him the first winner at which position?

Designated hitter. Four full-time DHs had finished second before him, David Ortiz among them, but none had won; in 2024 he took the award again in a year when he did not pitch at all.

How did Ohtani respond in 2021 when Japan's government offered him the People's Honour Award?

He turned it down, saying it was still too early. Ichiro Suzuki had already refused the same prize three times, the last when he retired in 2019.

The 2022 'Ohtani rule' lets a starting pitcher in the batting order do what after leaving the mound?

Stay in as DH. Under the old rule a team whose pitcher batted had no DH, so when Ohtani was relieved his bat left the game too, unless he moved to the outfield.

Despite 34 homers and 219 strikeouts, Ohtani was 2022 MVP runner-up to whom?

Aaron Judge. He had just hit 62 home runs, an American League record, and took 28 of the 30 first-place votes; the other two went to Ohtani.

Whom did Ohtani strike out to end the 2023 World Baseball Classic final?

Mike Trout. His Angels teammate swung through two 100 mph fastballs, worked the count full, then missed a slider that swerved 17 inches off the plate.

What did Ohtani's dog Decoy do at Dodger Stadium on the pair's bobblehead night in August 2024?

Delivered the first pitch. He took the ball from the mound to Ohtani at the plate, a trick the pair had rehearsed for three weeks, and Ohtani then homered in his first at-bat.

In May 2023 Ohtani passed Babe Ruth on the all-time list for what?

Pitching strikeouts. Ruth gave up regular pitching at 25 to become a full-time outfielder, which left his total low enough for Ohtani to pass in his sixth big-league season.

What did Ohtani do in a 2023 doubleheader opener before homering twice in the nightcap?

Threw a one-hit shutout. It was the first complete game of his MLB career, and he changed, met the press and went straight back out to hit two of the 44 homers that led the American League that year.

Which outstanding-DH honour did Ohtani win three straight times through 2023?

Edgar Martínez Award. It was created in 1973 for hitters who never take the field, yet in 2021 and 2022 it went to a man who was also one of the league's best starting pitchers.

What was the total value of Ohtani's December 2023 Dodgers contract?

$700 million. It passed Lionel Messi's $674 million Barcelona deal as the richest contract in sports at the time, and Ohtani broke the news himself in an Instagram post.

Ohtani's Dodgers salary pays only $2 million a year until 2034 because the rest is what?

Deferred. He put off $68 million a year until 2034-43, an idea that was his own, so the Dodgers would have payroll room to keep signing stars around him.

What kept Ohtani off the mound for the whole of 2024, his first season with the Dodgers?

Elbow surgery. He had it in September 2023, his second major operation on the same elbow, and spent 2024 as a hitter only, winning the MVP award anyway.

What milestone did Ohtani become the first MLB player ever to reach in 2024?

50 homers and 50 steals. He reached both marks in the same game, a six-hit night with three home runs, two steals and 10 RBI that also clinched a playoff place.

Whose record for the fastest 40-40 season did Ohtani break in 2024, getting there in his 126th game?

Alfonso Soriano. He needed 147 games with the 2006 Nationals; Ohtani got there in 126, stealing his 40th base and hitting his 40th homer on the same night.

Ohtani's first career walk-off homer in August 2024 was what kind of hit?

Grand slam. It turned a 3-3 tie in the bottom of the ninth into a 7-3 win, and it was his 40th home run of the year on the very night he had stolen his 40th base.

Ohtani's six-hit, three-homer, 10-RBI game in September 2024 came on the road against which team?

Miami Marlins. With first base open, their manager Skip Schumaker refused to walk him, calling that a bad move 'baseball-wise, karma-wise', and Ohtani answered with another home run.

What injury did Ohtani suffer sliding into second base in Game 2 of the 2024 World Series?

Left shoulder subluxation, a partial dislocation. He played on, gripping his jersey as he ran so the arm could not hit the ground, and had surgery for a torn labrum once the Series was won.

Before Ohtani, which slugger alone had won MVP in both leagues?

Frank Robinson. The Reds traded him at 30 as past his best; the next year he won the Triple Crown and a unanimous MVP award with Baltimore.

What breed is Ohtani's dog Dekopin, also known as Decoy?

Kooikerhondje. The small Dutch spaniel has a joke US visa of his own: the American ambassador to Japan presented it, complete with the passport number 000MVPUP000.

Ohtani's wife Mamiko Tanaka formerly played which sport professionally?

Basketball. Announcing the marriage, he would say only that his bride was 'a normal Japanese woman'; she turned out to be a forward who had played four seasons for the Fujitsu Red Wave.

Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani's long-time interpreter, was charged in 2024 with what?

Bank fraud. He posed as Ohtani on about 24 calls to the bank to push through wire transfers, moving nearly $17 million to cover his own gambling debts.

Besides paying off gambling debts, what did Ippei Mizuhara buy with about $325,000 of Ohtani's money?

Baseball cards. He bought them from online resellers such as eBay in early 2024, planning to sell them on for his own profit; he was later sentenced to 57 months in prison.

Ohtani's 2025 season opened against the Cubs in which city?

Tokyo. He admitted he had not felt so nervous in a long time, and more than 25 million people in Japan watched the opener, the biggest audience an MLB game had ever drawn there.

Whose Dodgers single-season record of 49 home runs did Ohtani break in 2024?

Shawn Green. His mark from 2001 fell in the middle of Ohtani's six-hit, 10-RBI game, and a year later Ohtani broke his own record on the final day of the regular season.

Against which team did Ohtani pitch six shutout innings and hit three homers in Game 4 of the 2025 NLCS?

Milwaukee Brewers. He struck out 10, and the longest of his three homers, measured at 469 feet, flew clean out of Dodger Stadium as the Dodgers completed a sweep.

Ohtani's first World Series homer in 2025 made him the second Japanese-born player to hit one, after whom?

Hideki Matsui. He was Ohtani's favourite hitter as a boy, the swing he tried to copy, and went on to be named Most Valuable Player of the 2009 World Series.

Which team intentionally walked Ohtani four times in an 18-inning 2025 World Series game?

Toronto Blue Jays. He had opened with two doubles and two home runs, so their manager stopped pitching to him; he still reached base nine times, a postseason record.

Ohtani was called the face of which pitch, baseball's hottest new one in 2023?

Sweeper. From the start of 2022 he threw more than a thousand of them, more than any other pitcher, and one that swerved 17 inches ended the World Baseball Classic final.