When Shohei Ohtani was first discovered by the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters, he was still a high school freshman.
Scout director Takashi Obuchi, who later helped draft Ohtani with the first overall pick, remembered his first impression clearly. Ohtani was tall, but his frame was still thin and undeveloped.
However, everything changed during Ohtani’s final years of high school.
In the spring tournament before his senior year, he hit a powerful home run that caught the attention of scouts across Japan. Later that same year, during the prefectural tournament, he threw a pitch that reached 160 km/h (99 mph)—a record-breaking speed for a Japanese high school player at the time.
By then, Ohtani was widely considered a top draft prospect.
But according to Obuchi, Ohtani’s greatest strength was not just his size or physical talent.
It was his relentless desire to improve.
From the moment he entered professional baseball—and even when he later announced his intention to challenge Major League Baseball—his ambition never wavered.
Two years after joining the Nippon-Ham Fighters, Ohtani achieved a historic milestone: double-digit wins as a pitcher and double-digit home runs as a hitter, something not seen since Babe Ruth.
When reporters asked him about the accomplishment, however, Ohtani showed little interest in celebrating the record.
Instead, he talked about the swings he had missed.
Hearing this, one of Ohtani’s team public relations staff made a memorable remark:
“It’s the difference between aiming for Mount Fuji and aiming for Mount Everest.”
Ohtani himself acknowledged this tendency.
“I tend to look at goals that are probably too high.”
Yet that habit—setting his sights far beyond what seems realistic—is precisely what has allowed him to keep climbing.
For Ohtani, the summit is always higher than the one he has already reached.
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.182