Shohei Ohtani Quotes

The mindset behind Shohei Ohtani’s greatness.

Category: Growth

Shohei Ohtani’s words on growth and self-improvement, emphasizing the mindset of continuous development and never settling for where you are.

That moment might come today. It might come tomorrow. One day, I might suddenly grasp something. That’s why I want to practice every day.
Training itself is fun. Pushing myself in workouts is fun. Trying something new there is fun. And when what I worked on shows up as results, that’s fun too.
Even when I pitched well, I couldn’t get wins. Starting pitchers naturally want wins, so I wondered what I was supposed to do about it.
It’s better to change something than to change nothing. If nothing changes, there’s a high chance you’ll get the same results as the year before. I enjoy seeking change.
Every year is important. There has never been a year I thought mattered less than the one before.
Last year, I couldn’t compete with him. Fujinami produced results. I’m the one who has to challenge.
Last season was one where I was carried to wins. This year, I want to earn as many wins for the team as I can.
If I had only been a pitcher or only a hitter, there were clearer goals I could have set, and a future that was easier to imagine. But there wasn’t really anything I could use as a reference. So I had to build it piece by piece myself. For me, that was a good thing.
If I start thinking that someday I’ll have to choose one, before I know it my focus shifts to which one is better. Then it becomes about choosing inside myself.
Compared to someone who doesn’t do both, there are many things you can only understand from the position of actually doing both.
My feelings never wavered about doing both. Even if trying both had turned out to be a failure, I believed it would still become something positive for me.
I’m excited to see how far I can go — not just as a player, but as a person. Right now, I just want to keep working hard and become the kind of player who can create a new path.