Shohei Ohtani, 28, is a Japanese professional baseball pitcher, designated hitter, and outfielder for the Los Angeles Angels of Major League Baseball (MLB). In Iwate, Japan, the baseball player grew up in a family with two siblings.
The Iwate native has become one of the most well-known Japanese players in MLB history.
The Japanese superstar previously played for the Pacific League of Nippon Professional Baseball’s Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters (NPB). Ohtani was chosen first overall by the Fighters in the 2012 draft. Between 2013 and 2017, he was an outfielder and pitcher for the Fighters in the NPB.
After the Fighters released him at the end of the 2017 season, he signed with the Angels. In 2018, he was named the American League’s (AL) Rookie of the Year, and in 2021, he was named the league’s Most Valuable Player.
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred declared Ohtani’s 2021 season to be “historically significant” and to have a “major impact on the sport.”
He was the first player in MLB history to start both the AL’s manager-selected starting pitcher and the game’s fan-selected starting designated hitter as the leadoff hitter in the 2021 All-Star Game.
Table of Contents
Shohei Ohtani’s sister, Yuki Ohtani, was a volleyball player
Shohei Ohtani, an MLB professional player, was the youngest of his siblings. Yuki Ohtani, his sister, used to play volleyball.
Her family was all involved in sports, so she inherited them. Her father, two brothers, and mother all chose baseball, and her mother was a professional badminton player, but she found happiness in volleyball.
Yuki was a sports fan for a while, but she later became a nurse and preferred working in the medical field.
Furthermore, she was most likely born in OshU, Iwate, Japan, where her brother Shohei was also born.
Ryuta Ohtani, Shohei Ohtani’s brother, is also a legend in the making.
Shohei has already established himself as one of the league’s most prominent players. Similarly, his older brother, Ryuta Ohtani, is a successful player and coach in the Japanese league.
Ryuta, the eldest brother, was born on March 20, 1988, as the oldest of his siblings to his athletic parents in sh, Iwate Prefecture. Morioka’s left-wing baseball player is 1.87 meters tall.
Ryuta and Shohei, two brothers, began playing baseball at a young age. They were trained by their father, a former professional baseball player. Ryuta began playing at Hanamaki Higashi High School in Japan.
Ryuta, like his brother, aspired to be a professional baseball player. He is a left-winger for Toyota Motor East. Ryuta continued to play with zeal after his first victory at the Tohoku Games in their hometown.
Ryuta is a baseball player for Toyota Motor East Japan Inc’s Morioka team. In 2018, he helped his team advance to the second round of the Tohoku region qualifier. This was the team’s first time qualifying for the Japan Baseball Tournament since its inception years ago.
Otani, unlike his younger brother, aspired to play professionally but chose to stay in the regional leagues. Despite being talented enough to play professionally, he chose to stay in Japan and play for smaller teams.
Shohei Ohtani’s Parents Are Professional Athletes As Well
Shohei Otani was born on July 5, 1994, in sh, Iwate, Japan, to Kayoko and Toru Otani. His parents are both professional athletes who served as role models for a new generation of athletes.
Kayoko Ohtani, his mother, was a national-level badminton player in high school, and she always encouraged her children to pursue careers in sports.
While working at a nearby auto assembly plant, his father was an amateur baseball player who competed in the Japanese Industrial League. Toru taught both sons the game and trained them from a young age.
Shohei’s father had previously played outfield for a corporate-sponsored nonprofessional baseball team.
Toru, Ohtani’s father, admits that he wasn’t very strict when he was growing up. Instead, he claimed that raising the children was nothing out of the ordinary.
Toru expressed some reservations about how he raised his first son. Toru was unable to devote enough time to Ryuta as a child because he had two other children and a demanding day job as a car assembly worker.
Toru noticed his son’s disappointment and reflected, “If only we had worked harder, I would have been able to give Shohei what I couldn’t give his older brother.”
Shohei Ohtani Is Possibly Dating Kamalani Dung
Shohei Ohtani and Kamalani Dung are rumored to be dating after their photo was discovered on the internet. Despite the fact that neither has officially announced their relationship, rumors suggest they are currently together.
An image of Kamalani Dung and Shohei Ohtani was posted on the internet in 2018, and the internet and netizens have been spreading rumors about their romantic relationship ever since.
Kamalani Dung, 25, is a Waianae, Hawaii-born American right-handed softball pitcher, model, and actress. She was the first Hawaiian pitcher in professional softball and won a gold medal.
Dung is a professional softball pitcher who currently competes in the Athletes Unlimited Softball league as well as for the Puerto Rican national team. As a college and international athlete, she has competed in several international competitions and garnered a sizable fan base.
Dung started for the California Golden Bears and Fresno State Bulldogs in the past.
Kamalani grew up in Waianae, Hawaii, with her parents, Honey Rodrigues and Lance Dung. Her family is very diverse, with Hawaiian, Puerto Rican, and Chinese ancestors.
She also attended Kamehameha Schools and began playing competitive softball in Hawaii at the age of ten.
Early years
Ohtani was born on July 5, 1994, in sh, Iwate, Japan, to Kayoko and Toru Otani. Kayoko, his mother, was a national-level badminton player in high school, and his father worked at a local automobile manufacturing plant while also playing amateur baseball in the Japanese Industrial League. He is the youngest of three children, with one older sister, Yuka, and one older brother, Ryuta, who is also a Japanese Industrial League amateur baseball player. Ohtani was dubbed a “yaky shnen” () in Japan, which means “a kid who lives, eats, and breathes baseball.” He showed an early aptitude for the game while being coached by his father.Ohtani began playing baseball in his second year of elementary school and recorded all but one of the 18 outs in a six-inning regional championship game as a seventh-grader.
Career as an amateur
Ohtani could have played baseball for any powerhouse high school team in major cities like Osaka or Yokohama as a teenager.
Instead, he chose Hanamaki Higashi High School in Iwate Prefecture, Northern Japan,[6] the same high school attended by pitcher Yusei Kikuchi, whom he admired;[7] Ohtani competed as a swimmer[8] and played baseball there.
Hiroshi Sasaki, Ohtani’s high school baseball coach, said he was a fast swimmer who “could have made the Olympics.”
Hanamaki Higashi’s players lived on campus under Sasaki’s direction, returning home only six days a year. To teach Ohtani humility, Sasaki would assign him toilet cleaning duties. As a high school pitcher, Ohtani threw a 160 km/h (99 mph) fastball. He threw the pitch in the Summer Koshien, Japan’s national high school baseball championship tournament. Ohtani had a 0-1 win-loss record in the 2012 18U Baseball World Championship, with 16 strikeouts, eight walks, five hits, and five runs, and a 4.35 earned run average (ERA) in 1013 innings pitched.
Professional life
Ohtani expressed a desire to enter the major leagues straight out of high school and was courted by a number of teams, including the Texas Rangers, Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, and Los Angeles Dodgers.
On October 21, 2012, he announced that, rather than turning professional in Japan, he would pursue a career in Major League Baseball. The Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters decided to draft him despite the fact that he was unlikely to play for them. Following an exclusive negotiating window between him and the Fighters, Ohtani announced that he would sign with the Fighters and spend some time in Japan before considering a move to MLB. Hokkaido said it would allow Ohtani to play both pitcher and position player; the Los Angeles Dodgers, Ohtani’s preferred MLB team, were not willing to let him play both positions. He was given the number 11 jersey, which had previously been worn by Yu Darvish.
Season with two halves
Ohtani will face the Texas Rangers in September 2021.
On July 26, in his 15th pitching start of the season against the Colorado Rockies, Ohtani became the first pitcher in league history to record 100 strikeouts while leading the league in home runs with 35 before the end of the month, as no pitcher had ever recorded triple-digit strikeouts and added more than nine home runs in the same season.
In addition, Ohtani became the first pitcher since Luis Tiant of the Minnesota Twins on April 26, 1970, to throw a scoreless first inning while recording a hit, an RBI, a stolen base, and a run scored in an AL ballpark.
Ohtani would be the first player in Major League history to have at least 37 home runs and 15 stolen bases before the end of the month.
Ohtani also won the American League Player of the Month Award for the second month in a row, becoming the first back-to-back winner in either league since Chase Headley in August and September 2012, and the first in the AL since Josh Hamilton in 2012. In 23 games in July, he had nine home runs, 19 RBIs, 16 walks, and a.282/.396/.671 slash line, as well as a 1.35 ERA with 17 strikeouts and one walk in 20 inning.
On August 18, Ohtani set a career high by throwing 90 pitches to record 24 outs in eight innings against the Detroit Tigers, while also hitting a solo homer for his 40th of the season in the eighth inning to lead the Angels to a 3-1 victory. He became the Angels’ first left-handed batter to hit 40 home runs, breaking lefty Reggie Jackson’s 1982 record of 39. He also became the fourth AL pitcher since the DH’s inception in 1973 to throw at least eight innings and hit a home run in the same game, joining Jon Garland in June 2006, Kris Benson in June 2006, and Bobby Witt in June 1997.
Ohtani would finish the month of August by stealing his 20th base against the San Diego Padres on August 28, becoming the first Japanese-born playe and the first player in Angels history to hit 40 home runs and steal 20 bases in the same season. He became the third AL player to accomplish this feat before September, joining Alex Rodriguez in 2007 and Ken Griffey Jr. in 1999. He also became the first AL player since Curtis Granderson in 2011 to reach both of those totals in a season.
On September 21, after hitting his 45th home run of the season, Ohtani became the first player since Alex Rodriguez in 2007 to hit at least 45 home runs and steal at least 20 bases in a season.
On September 25, Ohtani became the first Angels player since Peter Bourjos in April 2011 to hit two triples in consecutive plate appearances, joining Willie Mays as the only players with at least 45 home runs, 20 stolen bases, and six triples in a season.
Ohtani drew 13 walks in four games from September 22 to September 25, tying an AL/NL record set by Babe Ruth in 1930, Bryce Harper in 2016, and Yasmani Grandal in 2021. He drew four walks on September 22 and three on September 23, both against the Houston Astros, before drawing four more on September 24 and two on September 25 against the Seattle Mariners. In addition, his 11 walks in three games tied the MLB record set by Harper in 2016.
