Shohei Ohtani has long been known for his strong commitment to training, nutrition, and sleep.

But that dedication did not begin with a perfectly structured plan.

Early in his career with the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters, Ohtani did not think deeply about nutrition. That changed after conversations with Yu Darvish, a former Fighters ace who had already built a reputation for his scientific approach to training and diet. Inspired by those discussions, Ohtani began studying nutrition and conditioning more seriously on his own.

Training itself was also a process of exploration.

Because no player had ever succeeded as a true two-way player in modern professional baseball, there was no established blueprint for how Ohtani should train. Coaches, trainers, and Ohtani himself had to experiment constantly in order to discover what worked best.

During the 2016 offseason, Ohtani was asked in an interview what kind of books he liked to read.

“Mostly books about training and nutrition,” he replied.

The interviewer expressed surprise and commented that everything must be focused solely on baseball.

Ohtani gently corrected that assumption.

“It’s not just for baseball,” he explained. “I enjoy learning about training and nutrition, putting it into practice, and seeing how my body and performance change.”

Some athletes simply follow the instructions of coaches and trainers.

Ohtani takes a different approach.

He studies the science himself, thinks through the ideas, tests them in practice, and observes the results. Each adjustment becomes part of an ongoing experiment.

For him, improvement is not just a requirement of the profession.

It is something he genuinely enjoys.

Source

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

Kadokawa Special Edition: Shohei Ohtani Feature, p.16