It is not uncommon to see footage of successful athletes who were raised under intense, passionate guidance from their parents, training in tears from a young age.
From a parent’s perspective, it is often done “for the child,” and the child may grow stronger by enduring that strictness with a determined mindset.

Shohei Ohtani’s upbringing, however, appears to have been different.

Because his father had experience in company baseball and served as a manager and coach in Little League and Senior League teams, Ohtani was sometimes coached strictly when it came to baseball.
But that strictness was limited to the field.

Once they returned home, he says, he was almost never scolded.
According to his parents, the rare moments when Ohtani became upset were over small things — such as when the cover of a notebook decorated with characters from Harry Potter peeled slightly, or when the corner of a favorite picture book was bent and he demanded to know who had done it.

Even then, there were very few occasions when his parents felt they truly needed to scold him.
They recall that there was hardly ever a situation where he was punished for misbehavior, and that he did not go through what could be described as a typical rebellious phase.

Ohtani himself has said that he barely remembers being scolded by his parents at all.
That suggests he grew up in a calm, open, and supportive home environment.

The warmth and kindness he shows toward others today may well be rooted in the atmosphere in which he was raised.

Source

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

Opening a Path, Crossing the Ocean: The True Story of Shohei Ohtani, p.74