Shohei Ohtani is a Japanese professional baseball pitcher and designated hitter.
He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Los Angeles Angels and for the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters of Nippon Professional Baseball’s (NPB) Pacific League.
Widely acclaimed for his skill in both pitching and batting, he has been compared to two-way players such as Babe Ruth and Bullet Rogan, although such comparisons draw debate given the difference in era and overall ability of modern players.
Considered early on as an elite two-way player, Shohei Ohtani was the first pick of the Fighters in the 2012 draft.
He played in NPB for the Fighters from 2013 through 2017 as a pitcher and an outfielder, and won the 2016 Japan Series with them.
The Fighters posted Ohtani to MLB after the 2017 season, and he signed with the Angels, soon winning the 2018 American League (AL) Rookie of the Year Award.
Following an injury-plagued 2019 and 2020, Ohtani would go on to have a 2021 season widely considered to be historic, as he became the first in the history of MLB with 10+ home runs and 20+ stolen bases as a hitter and 100+ strikeouts and 10+ pitching appearances as a pitcher in the same season while also holding at least a share of the major league lead in home runs in 14 starts.
Because of his elite contributions both offensively and as a pitcher, a rarity for two-way players, Ohtani’s peak is widely considered among the greatest in baseball history, with some comparing it favorably to the early career of Babe Ruth.
For his efforts, he was awarded the 2021 American League Most Valuable Player Award.
He followed this in 2022 by becoming the first player in the modern era to qualify for both the hitting and pitching leaderboards in one season, reaching the thresholds of 3.1 plate appearances and one inning pitched per game with 586 at bats and 166 innings pitched.
Shohei Ohtani completed yet another historic campaign in 2023, becoming the first player in MLB history with 10 wins and 40 home runs in a season, the first Japanese-born player to win a major league home run title, leading the American League with 44 home runs, and the first Japanese player to have the most popular Major League Baseball jersey sales.
Internationally, Ohtani represented Japan in the 2023 World Baseball Classic, winning the MVP Award for the tournament following Team Japan’s victory over Team USA.
The final game was one of the most-watched baseball games in history, culminating with Ohtani striking out Angels teammate and Team USA captain Mike Trout on a full count, securing a 3–2 win and Team Japan’s third title.
Who is Shohei Ohtani?
Shohei Ohtani was born to Kayoko and Toru Ohtani in Mizusawa (now part of Ōshū), Iwate, Japan, on July 5, 1994.
His mother was a national-level badminton player in high school and his father worked at a local automobile manufacturing plant and was an amateur baseball player who played in the Japanese Industrial League.
He is the youngest of three children. He has one older sister, Yuka, and one older brother, Ryuta, who is also an amateur baseball player in the Japanese Industrial League.
In Japan, Ohtani was known as a “yakyū shōnen” (野球少年)—a kid who lives, eats and breathes baseball.
Coached by his father, he displayed an aptitude for the game at an early age.
He began playing baseball in his second year of elementary school, and as a seventh-grader, Ohtani recorded all but one of 18 outs in a six-inning regional championship game.
Shohei Ohtani net worth: How much is Shohei Ohtani worth?
Shohei Ohtani is a professional baseball player from Japan who has a net worth of $20 million.
Contracts and Salary
Between 2018 and 2022, Shohei Ohtani earned just under $9.7 million in total salary. In 2022 he earned $5.5 million.
Ahead of the 2023 season he signed a 1-year, $30 million contract with the Angles.
Shohei Ohtani will be a free agent at the end of the 2023 season. Prior to suffering a torn UCL ligament in August 2023, he was predicted to be in-line for a record-setting 12-year $600 million.
By comparison, the current record for the largest contract in MLB history is Mike Trout’s 2019, 12-year $426 million deal with the Angels.
It’s unclear what Shohei will be worth as a free agent now. If he opts to repair the UCL via surgery, he could miss an entire season.
He could also opt to not have the surgery and instead just be a batter/fielder for the rest of his career.
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