Shohei Ohtani announced his decision to pursue a career in Major League Baseball during the offseason of 2017.

Before the announcement, however, his high school coach at Hanamaki Higashi High School, Hiroshi Sasaki, spoke with him on the phone and offered some cautious advice.

Sasaki reminded Ohtani that while dreams and challenges are important, life as an adult also involves responsibilities and risks. He suggested that it might be wiser to continue building his career in Japan before moving to the United States.

Many Japanese players who had successfully transitioned to MLB had first established themselves firmly in Nippon Professional Baseball before making the leap overseas.

But Ohtani’s determination never wavered.

What Sasaki noticed was that Ohtani’s decision was not based on confidence from already dominating Japanese baseball.

Instead, it came from the pure spirit of a young baseball player who simply wanted to challenge himself at the highest level.

On the day he officially declared his intention to move to the Major Leagues, Ohtani spoke openly about his ambition.

He said he wanted to become the best player among those competing on the field.

Unlike the Olympic Games, baseball does not have a single gold medal that clearly identifies the best individual player.

Because it is a team sport, the concept of being “number one” is often less defined.

But Ohtani believed there was another way to measure greatness.

If fans and people around the world naturally come to say, “He’s the best,” then that is what being the best truly means.

To pursue that goal, Ohtani chose the stage he believed represented the highest level of the sport.

Today, as he competes in Major League Baseball, many people across the world increasingly speak of him in exactly those terms.

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.43