This isn’t limited to baseball, but one of the quickest ways to evaluate your current level is by comparing yourself to others.

During his time with the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters, Shohei Ohtani once reflected on his rookie season and said:

“I expected to go 5–2 in my first year, so I was disappointed that I fell short.”

In reality, he finished with a record of 3–0.

But when he said, “I was two wins short,” it is often believed that he had Yu Darvish’s rookie record of 5–5 in mind as a benchmark.

In the 2022 MVP race, Ohtani finished second to Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees.

Yet his performance that season was extraordinary.

As a pitcher, he recorded a 15–9 record with a 2.33 ERA and 219 strikeouts.

As a hitter, he posted a .273 batting average with 34 home runs, 95 RBIs, and 11 stolen bases.

It was a season worthy of MVP recognition.

However, one possible reason for the outcome was that there had never been a true two-way player before—making it difficult to fully evaluate Ohtani’s combined performance.

In contrast, Judge’s home run total was more straightforward and easier to understand.

As Ohtani himself has acknowledged:

“It’s difficult to evaluate something when there’s nothing to compare it to.”

That said, in 2023 and 2024, Ohtani’s performance reached a level where comparison itself became unnecessary.

He led the league in home runs in consecutive seasons and produced results so dominant that they stood on their own.

Ohtani is not just a player to be compared—

he is a pioneer who continues to surpass even his own standards.

Source

This quote comes from a Japanese book published in Japan and is not currently available in English.

Number 1048, p.16