For athletes, getting stronger is essential.

But growth comes with risk.

When the body becomes bigger and stronger, flexibility and coordination can temporarily suffer. Strength without integration can look like regression.

On the first day of the Fighters’ 2014 spring camp, Shohei Ohtani threw in the bullpen — and manager Hideki Kuriyama was furious.

“What are you doing?” he reportedly shouted.

Ohtani’s mechanics were scattered. The delivery looked unstable. Some wondered whether he had overbuilt his body during the offseason.

Media outlets questioned whether something had gone wrong.

Ohtani did not argue. He did not explain.

Because, in his mind, nothing was wrong.

“I figured the process of syncing everything up could wait until camp started.”

He called it oto-awase — “tuning.”

The larger body required recalibration. The form had not yet caught up to the new strength. But that was expected.

If you change the instrument, you must retune it.

Ohtani understood that temporary imbalance is often the first stage of advancement. What looks like decline can be adjustment.

He trusted the process.

And once the tuning was complete, the upgraded version would emerge.

Growth is not always smooth.

Sometimes it sounds off before it harmonizes.

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.111