10 things you didn’t know about Shohei Ohtani

Shohei Ohtani is one of the greatest athletes in professional sports today. Perhaps due to the language barrier, fans in the United States might not know as much about him as they do about other sports stars.

Ohtani has played his entire MLB career on the west coast of the United States, which is easy to see when it comes to his favorite American food. In an interview with Japanese media In February 2024, Ohtani professed his love for In-N-Out burgers without hesitation.

Ohtani landed in a supreme spot for hamburger options, as In-N-Out, Carl’s Jr. and Jack in the Box are all highly touted fast food joints in this area of the country.

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The Los Angeles Dodgers made one of the biggest splashes of all time in free agency in 2023 when they signed Ohtani to a 10-year, $700 million contract. However, there were no guarantees that Ohtani would get to wear number 17, since it was already being donned by Joe Kelly. The Japanese phenom had to pull out all the stops to secure his preferred baseball jersey number.

Ohtani gifted Kelly’s wife Ashley a Porsche. The delivery driver said “it’s yours. From Shohei.” Throughout the course of free agency, Ashley Kelly had pushed for Ohtani to sign with the Dodgers. Joe Kelly said of the unique scenarios to ESPN, “If Shohei keeps performing, he’ll be a future Hall of Famer and I’ll be able to have my number retired. That’s the closest I’ll get to the Hall of Fame.”

Shohei Ohtani is the youngest of three children. He has an older brother named Ryuta and an older sister named Yuka.

Yuka Ohtani was an amateur baseball player. According to Essentially Sports, Toru Ohtani, their father, wishes he had done more to help Yuka develop his talent. Toru told The Miniachi, “If only I had worked together with him more… I’ve got to give Shohei what I couldn’t give to his older brother.”

Ohtani didn’t take the mound in his first season with the Dodgers, but was a Cy Young candidate during his time with the Los Angeles Angels. Ricardo Sandoval of Sports Illustrated wrote in April 2023 that Ohtani’s favorite pitch was the sweeper. Sandoval called him “the face of that pitch.”

Emma Baccellieri of Sports Illustrated wrote in May 2023 that Ohtani’s sweeper breaks a foot and a half horizontally, which is devastating for any hitter to try to deal with. Around half of Ohtani’s pitches in his last Angels season were sweepers, so it didn’t seem to get any easier to hit despite the hitters seeing more of it.

According to Ancestry’s website, Shohei is a name that is deeply rooted in Japanese culture. “Sho” means furthermore and “hei” means respect.

We wouldn’t be doing our due diligence if we didn’t share what his last name meant in Japanese as well. “Ohtani” translates to valley in Japanese.

As he continues to assimilate and acclimate to life in the United States, Ohtani has picked up some language skills. He’s often flanked by Spanish-speaking teammates from the Caribbean and South America, so it’s perhaps no surprise Ohtani can speak Spanish. Former Angels teammate Carlos Estevez told Fox LA, “It’s sneaky good. He’s got some good words in Spanish. I was surprised.”

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In February 2024, Marca covered a fun moment where it looked like Ohtani attempted to translate and teach Spanish to fellow countryman Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Dodgers teammate Teoscar Hernandez from the Dominican Republic recorded the exchange.

Before Ohtani leaped on to the scene as a historic baseball prospect, he was an excellent swimmer. During his high school years, he worked hard to excel in the pool.

According to Essentially Sports, Ohtani’s coach Hiroshi Sasaki said that had he stuck with swimming, Ohtani “could have made the Olympics.”

Ohtani announced in February 2024 that he was married to the love of his life, Mamiko Tanaka. He wrote on social media, “Not only have I began a new chapter in my career with the Dodgers but I also have began a new life with someone from my native country of Japan who is very special to me.” Tanaka’s athletic resume is impressive.

Tanaka played four years of professional basketball in Japan form 2019 through 2023, according to Essentially Sports. She played with the Fujitsu Red Wave. ESPN notes that she shot over 47 percent from the field in her final season.

Ohtani said in a 2022 interview with GQ that he was obsessed with a sports manga called Slam Dunk. The story is about a high school team that exceeds all expectations and sticks together. Ohtani said that basketball is an intriguing sport to him, “although it’s a sport I’m not good at.”

He also likes reading Major, which is a manga written and illustrated by Takuya Mitsuda. The story features a player who pitches and hits and makes it all the way to MLB. It should sound supremely familiar to Ohtani.

With his eyes open, Ohtani has put together seasons unlike any baseball fans have ever seen. However, he likes to spend a lengthy amount of time with his eyes closed. He told Kyodo News in 2022, “Sleep is my top priority,” later saying that he tries to sleep for 10 hours a night. On top of that, he likes to squeeze in a two-hour nap before every game.

It might seem like a lot for someone to sleep 12 hours per day during the season, but the results clearly speak for themselves. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told Sports Illustrated, “Everything he does is for a purpose. There’s no wasted time, on anything.”

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