Shohei Ohtani’s performance at the fifth World Baseball Classic was unforgettable.

However, surprisingly, it was actually the first time he had fully participated in a major international tournament.

Ohtani had originally been selected for the fourth WBC in 2017 as well, but because of problems with his right ankle, he was ultimately forced to withdraw despite continuing to prepare for the tournament.

For Ohtani, the WBC had always been a dream stage.

Ahead of Japan’s opening game against Cuba on March 7, he kept trying to recover in time, but his condition failed to improve enough.

Eventually, he concluded:

“There’s no way I’ll be ready in time.”

Still, because Ohtani was a two-way player, there remained another possibility.

Although he could not pitch, the pain while hitting was manageable enough that he briefly considered participating only as a batter.

Yet Ohtani rejected that idea.

“If it were my own team, maybe we could talk things through and find a way,” he said. “But when you’re representing Japan, you can’t approach it with that kind of casual mindset.”

In the end, manager Hiroki Kokubo removed him from the roster.

Ohtani believed that with his professional club team, he might still take the mound if he were operating at 60 or 70 percent.

But representing an entire country was different.

To wear the Japanese uniform without being able to compete at full strength, in his mind, would have been irresponsible.

The decision devastated him.

Being chosen for the national team had meant everything to him.

But for Ohtani, carrying Japan’s flag required complete commitment and full readiness.

If he could not compete at 100 percent, then he believed he did not deserve to stand on that stage.

That sense of responsibility reveals another side of Shohei Ohtani’s greatness — not just his talent, but the seriousness and respect with which he approaches the game and the honor of representing his country.

Source

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

Shohei Ohtani: Baseball Youth, Vol. I — Japan Edition 2013–2018, p.271