During his early years in professional baseball, Shohei Ohtani was often described as calm, composed, and almost unusually cool for such a dominant player.
He overwhelmed hitters with his talent, yet rarely showed dramatic displays of emotion on the field.
But moments of intense competition sometimes revealed another side of him.
That side became especially visible in later years—during the dramatic games of the 2023 World Baseball Classic and the pressure-filled battles of the 2024 postseason—when Ohtani openly carried the responsibility of leading his team and inspiring his teammates.
At the heart of those moments was a simple belief:
Victory often belongs to the player with the stronger will.
A glimpse of that mentality appeared much earlier, during the 2015 Premier12 tournament.
At the time, Japan and South Korea shared one of the fiercest rivalries in international baseball. The two teams faced each other twice in the tournament.
In the opening round, Ohtani started against Korea and dominated, striking out ten batters while throwing six scoreless innings to secure the win for Japan.
But their second meeting came in the semifinals—a far more intense stage where a single loss would end Japan’s championship hopes.
Ohtani sensed that Korea would approach the game differently the second time.
They would fight harder.
Attack more aggressively.
And push relentlessly to break him.
Standing on the mound, Ohtani made a decision.
He would not allow himself to lose the battle of will.
“If they come at me with everything,” he thought, “then I need to bring something even stronger.”
The result was another extraordinary performance: seven innings, only one hit allowed, and eleven strikeouts.
Japan advanced.
For Ohtani, the lesson was clear.
Talent matters. Strategy matters.
But in the most intense moments of competition, the outcome can come down to something more fundamental.
The strength of one’s desire to win.
Source
This quote comes from a Japanese book published in Japan and is not currently available in English.
Shohei Ohtani: Baseball Youth I (Japan Edition 2013–2018), p.203