In Japanese professional baseball, there is a well-known phrase: “the sophomore slump.”

For example, even if a rookie pitcher posts outstanding numbers in his first season, it is often extremely difficult to maintain that level of success in the years that follow. Some players never surpass their rookie-year performances and eventually retire without reaching those heights again.

One major reason is that opponents study successful players thoroughly and develop strategies to counter them.

This phenomenon is not limited to rookies.
In professional sports, repeating a great season year after year is incredibly difficult.

In 2021, Shohei Ohtani produced extraordinary numbers as both a pitcher and a hitter:

• Pitching: 9–2 record, 3.18 ERA, 156 strikeouts
• Hitting: .257 batting average, 46 home runs, 100 RBIs

Either one of those accomplishments alone would have been remarkable.
The fact that one player achieved both at the same time stunned the baseball world.

Yet when Ohtani was asked about the future, he gave a surprisingly confident answer:

“I’m actually quite confident that I can keep repeating what I did this year in the seasons ahead.”

And he proved it.

In 2022, he recorded 15 wins and 34 home runs.
In 2023, he finished with 10 wins and 44 home runs.
Then in 2024, he achieved baseball’s first-ever 50–50 season.

After seeing Ohtani’s 2022 performance, Hall of Fame pitcher John Smoltz admitted that he could hardly believe a human being could repeat — or even surpass — what Ohtani had done the previous year.

But Ohtani did exactly that.

Source

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

SHO-TIME: The Man Who Changed 120 Years of Major League History, p.345