Former SoftBank Players, Including Matsuda, Share: ‘The Unique Aura of Battling Shohei Ohtani

In middle school, he didn’t know Otani’s name.

I felt he was very big. The distance from the mound to the batter’s box was only a little over 18 meters, but the intimidation he exuded was extraordinary. I felt as if I was throwing to a huge monster.

Tomoya Osaka, 30, a member of the club team “Tohoku Marks,” recalls a practice game in the fall of his second year at Aomori Yamada High School in which he pitched against Shohei Otani, 30, who was a member of Hanamaki-Higashi High School at the time.

Otani of the Dodgers created a legend on September 20 (Japan time) against the Marlins. He hit 50-50 (50 home runs and 50 stolen bases), which no one had ever recorded before. He repeated the feat the following day, and as of September 24, he has reached 53-55. The following day, he repeated the feat, reaching the 53-55 mark as of September. We would like to introduce the “aura of power that only we can understand” in their own words.

How many home runs have you hit?

“About 35 to 36.

The aforementioned Mr. Osaka remembers having such a conversation with Otani, who was a first baseman in junior high school and got a hit on a base hit. The final of the All-Japan Little League Tohoku Tournament in June 2007. Ōsaka was playing fourth for the Choja Red Sox of Hachinohe, Aomori Prefecture, and Ōtani was the main gun for the Mizusawa Pirates of Oshu, Iwate Prefecture. However, Ōsaka, surprisingly, did not know Ōtani’s name.

In Little League, I thought it would be OK if we made it to the Tohoku tournament,” he said. So I knew about the good players in Aomori Prefecture, but I didn’t know about Otani outside the prefecture.

The ball just disappears.”

At the time, both players were in the first year of junior high school. While Osaka thought Otani, who had hit “35 to 36 home runs” at that age, was amazing, he did not sense any special aura from his slender, frail body. In junior high school, Osaka was rated higher than him. However, four years later, when he entered his second year of high school, his impression changed drastically. As mentioned at the beginning of this article, Otani’s intimidation was “extraordinary.

His physical appearance was completely different. He was just huge. Ohtani has long arms and legs, so I remember that his bat seemed awfully short. He was also a pitcher at the time, and when we played against each other, the ball would disappear. Pitches that looked like they were about to bounce would suddenly stretch out and become strikes. If I went to hit a low ball, it would go one-bounce ……. That’s why it felt like it was going to disappear,” said Osaka.

In the fall Tohoku tournament that followed the practice game, Osaka was also taken aback.

I think it was against Kousei Gakuin (now Hachinohe Gakuin Kousei). It was a foul, but Otani hit a huge fly ball far over the light pole. I was overwhelmed by his substandard play, which gets more powerful every time I see him.

Seeing how Otani had matured, Osaka was convinced of one thing.

In my elementary school graduation book, I wrote, ‘I want to do something that no one has ever done before. I wrote in my elementary school graduation book that I wanted to play in the majors. But Otani, since he was a child, has been building his body and honing his skills toward his goal of ‘achieving an unprecedented feat. I thought, “Oh no. I thought I couldn’t win.”

There is a professional baseball player who was good at this Ohtani. Nobuhiro Matsuda, 41, a baseball commentator who played for Softbank and the Giants, had a .311 batting average against him. Matsuda recalls.

Ohtani throws a 160 km/h fastball. So I thought he was going to throw a 180 km/h fastball, so I took the bat out early and hit it as if I was swimming. If you wait for a 160 km/h pitch from the beginning, you can’t really handle it. It was my own strategy.

Matsuda experienced Ohtani’s greatness firsthand during the Climax Series in October 2004.

When I stepped into the batter’s box, I could see Ohtani’s gears kicking into high gear. 163 km/h, 164 km/h, and he struck out ……. The next at-bat by Hiroki Yoshimura was a shock. He hit 165 km/h, the fastest in professional baseball at the time. I was sitting next to Seiichi Uchikawa on the bench, and we were looking at the speed readout on the electronic bulletin board. I remember pointing at it over and over again. I was so excited to witness the moment when history was changed.

Matsuda felt Otani’s greatness not only through his play.

It’s natural to get a little cocky after such a great performance, but Otani is so open and humble,” he said. I am a mood maker, called a ‘hot guy,’ but Otani, who is much younger than me, would say, ‘You are always energetic, Mr. Matsuda. You are so hot! He would say to me, “You are always energetic, Mr. Matsu. On the contrary, I was more relaxed. Otani is not only a skilled player, but also a great human being. I believe he can grow even more.

What kind of dream will the “monster” Otani realize next? What kind of dream will “Monster” Otani achieve next? I am sure that he will continue to set unimaginable records one after another in the future.

From the October 11, 2024 issue of FRIDAY