Baseball is often called “a sport of failure.”

Even a great hitter who bats .300 still fails to get a hit 70 percent of the time.

The same mindset has long existed among elite pitchers.

Many legendary pitchers used to say:

“When I take the mound, I always aim for a perfect game. If I allow a walk, then I aim for a no-hitter. If I allow a hit, then I aim for a shutout.”

In reality, perfect games and no-hitters are extraordinarily rare, and in today’s era of specialized bullpens, even complete-game shutouts have become uncommon.

Shohei Ohtani fully understands those realities of baseball.

And yet, he still chooses to pursue an almost impossible standard.

“I don’t really know what percentage my batting has reached yet, or what would make me feel I’ve reached 100 percent. But people say a hitter is amazing if he bats .300. Still, maybe you can only call it 100 percent when you make no mistakes at all and hit 1.000.”

Of course, in a sport where every at-bat is a battle against elite pitchers, achieving a “1.000 batting average” is impossible.

But that is precisely the point.

Because Ohtani aims for something unattainable, he never stops changing, improving, and evolving.

People who settle for “good enough” eventually stop growing.

Ohtani’s greatness comes from aiming far beyond what most people believe is realistic.

Source

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

Opening a Path, Crossing the Ocean: The True Story of Shohei Ohtani, p.305