When people talk about Shohei Ohtani’s greatness, they often do so through comparison.

In his third year with the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters, Ohtani went 15–5 with a 2.24 ERA as a pitcher. That alone would have marked him as elite. His teammate Yu Darvish had posted a similar 15–5 record in his own third season, with an even lower ERA of 1.82. By those numbers, Ohtani clearly belonged among the best.

But Ohtani was not only a pitcher.

He was also a hitter.

In Japan, his limited plate appearances made comparisons to sluggers like Hideki Matsui difficult. Yet after moving to Major League Baseball, Ohtani began surpassing Matsui’s seasonal and career records in home runs and RBIs.

If he had been only a pitcher, he might have followed the arc of Darvish.
If only a hitter, perhaps Matsui.

Either path would have offered a template — a model to measure himself against.

But because he chose both, there was no precedent. No blueprint. No benchmark.

Reflecting on his five years in Japan, Ohtani admitted:

“I didn’t have a clear picture of what I wanted to become by my fifth year. There wasn’t really anything I could use as a reference. There wasn’t a standard that told me, ‘This is what you’ll become.’ So I had to build it piece by piece myself. For me, that was a good thing.”

Most athletes grow by following a model.
Ohtani grew by creating one.

Walking a road no one has taken means living without comparison. Without guarantees. Without a clear image of the destination.

For many, that uncertainty would be uncomfortable.

For Ohtani, it was freedom.

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.227