Yuki Taguchi/MLB Photos
- Shohei Ohtani became the first pitcher since Babe Ruth to start a game as the home run leader.
- Ohtani's path to making 'Ruthian' baseball history dates back to his career in Japan prior to 2018.
- A propaganda film made by Japanese baseball executives helped convince Ohtani to follow that path.
- Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.
Shohei Ohtani is breaking down 100-year-old barriers in baseball, and it probably wouldn't be possible if American scouts had their way.
On Monday, the Los Angeles Angels phenom became the first player since Babe Ruth in 1921 to start a game at pitcher while leading MLB in home runs. Ohtani is batting .300 with 14 extra-base hits, including seven homers while sporting a 3.29 ERA with 23 strikeouts and just 13 walks.
-MLB (@MLB) April 26, 2021
MLB hasn't seen a player excel as a pitcher and hitter in its modern era the way Ohtani has, and that's because the game usually doesn't allow for it. American baseball coaches at the college and minor league level will often inherit players who pitched and hit in high school. However, it is conventional to mold them into specializing in just one of the two.
In the last 70 years, baseball has only seen 33 players pitch in 20 games and play the field in 20 games, according to The Society for American Baseball Research.
Ohtani nearly fell victim to those static American baseball conventions himself. He initially announced that he would weigh offers from MLB teams rather than turn pro in his home country after his high school career ended in 2012. However, the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) in Japan still drafted him with the No. 1 overall pick in that year's draft.
Fighters executives made a push to convince him to stay in Japan. Their effort was highlighted by a video presentation called "The Path to Realizing Shohei Ohtani's Dream," which uglified the American minor league experience, according to baseball author Robert Whiting.
"They put together a video," Whiting said, according to MLB.com. "It showed the really tough stuff that young Minor Leaguers have to go through, and especially what Ohtani would have to go through -- the lack of Japanese restaurants, the 18-hour bus rides, things like that.
"But it also highlighted how he would be an instant star with Nippon-Ham, how family and friends would be there, how he would have this comfortable cocoon. They would help train him to get to the Major Leagues. He wouldn't have to spend any time worrying about anything other than that."
The video convinced Ohtani to flip his decision and sign with the Fighters.
Had Ohtani gone right to the minor leagues, managers and coaches likely would have made him commit to either pitching or a position in the field.
Staying in Japan allowed Ohtani to explore both sides of his game and grow off the field
"They approached me, 'What do you think about doing both?'" Ohtani told Sports Illustrated in 2017. "I definitely wanted to try it. I still thought I had a chance to be a great hitter at a professional level."
Ohtani struggled to balance hitting and pitching in his first three professional seasons. But the Fighters were patient with his progress, and it paid off in 2016.
That year, at the age of 21, he batted .322 with 22 homers while pitching to a 1.86 ERA and striking out 174 batters in 140 innings over 21 games (20 starts). He was named Pacific League Most Valuable Player and led the Fighters to a Japan Series title.
Ohtani's Angels teammate Mike Trout, a superstar in his own right, believes that coming up through Japan's big leagues has helped Ohtani handle the fame and pressure of baseball in a way that the minor leagues never could.
"As a young player coming up from the minors then getting up here is like trying to slow the game down. And I think Shohei was already doing that in Japan because he had all the attention," Trout told Insider. "He was put through it already. He knows what the big moments are like and how to react.
Building up his star in Japan meant that Ohtani could come to America as a pre-established phenom in 2018, and he started building comparisons to Ruth right away. As an MLB rookie, Ohtani became the first player to pitch 50 innings and hit 15 home runs since Ruth did it for Boston in 1919.
"It's pretty remarkable with all the hype when he first came over," Trout said. "Everybody wanted to see Shohei. And when I came up as a number-one prospect, it was very similar, but with him coming from Japan with the fanbase over there, it was a little bit bigger."