In Japanese baseball, one of the traditional benchmarks for greatness is wins. The Sawamura Award requires at least 15 victories.
In Major League Baseball, however, evaluation has evolved.
Jacob deGrom won back-to-back Cy Young Awards in 2018 and 2019 with only 10 and 11 wins. By older standards, that might seem modest. But his ERA was in the 1.00s. He struck out more than 200 batters while issuing very few walks.
Modern evaluation prioritizes what a pitcher directly controls:
- Limiting walks
- Preventing hard contact
- Generating strikeouts
Wins, by contrast, depend on run support, bullpen performance, and timing.
In 2023, Ohtani finished 10–5 as a pitcher. The win total did not fully reflect his dominance. His strikeout rate and opponent batting average were elite.
He has long understood this distinction.
“When you pitch well but the result isn’t good, you end up worrying about things you can’t control.”
A win is shared.
A performance is personal.
If you judge yourself by outcomes that depend on others, frustration becomes inevitable.
But if you judge yourself by execution — by the quality of what you directly influence — clarity returns.
Ohtani’s focus has never been on the scoreboard alone.
It has been on responsibility.
Control what you can.
Release what you can’t.
That is competitive maturity.
Source
This quote comes from a Japanese book published in Japan and is not currently available in English.
Shohei Ohtani: Baseball Chronicle I (Japan Edition 2013–2018), p.231