Taishi Ota, T-Okada, and Norichika Aoki: Emotional Farewells from Pro Baseball

There were times when I was more depressed than I should have been, and I acted sulkily. More than once, I cried tears of regret behind the bench so that other players would not see me. I was at rock bottom.

Taishi Ota, 34, who will retire at the end of this season, confessed in the June 8, 2006 issue of “FRIDAY.

Many big-name professional baseball players will be taking off their uniforms this season. Ota, T-Okada (36), and Nobuchika Aoki (42) ……. This magazine interviewed them when they were active players. We look back at the agonizing times when they struggled in their own words.

Okada, a big slugger standing 188 cm tall, was drafted first overall by the Giants in 2008 from Tokai University Sagami High School (Kanagawa Prefecture). He inherited the number “55” from Hideki Matsui, who had moved to the Yankees. However, he gradually lost sight of himself under the pressure of daily media attention and his impatience to become a great hitter like Matsui. As the comment at the beginning of this article shows, he hit rock bottom.

After seeing hell with the Giants, Ota’s talent blossomed when he was transferred to Nippon Ham in the off-season of 2004. In 1919, he set career highs with a .289 batting average, 20 home runs, and 77 runs batted in. He also told this magazine, “During my eight years with the Giants, I was a great player.

During my eight years with the Giants, I battled with myself. I don’t want to have another tough time. I took the opportunity of the transfer to make a clean break with my weak self and decided to make the most of my strengths. I decided to improve my long-ball hitting ability. During spring camp, I didn’t turn on the TV at all and watched videos of Kris Bryant, the MVP of the Cubs, over and over again to get the image of him into my head.

I became afraid to even hold the bat.

Orix’s T-Okada, who hit 33 homers in 2010 and won the homerun championship, had also failed to make a splash until the previous year. In the November 12, 2010 issue of this magazine, he said, “I had completely lost sight of myself.

I had completely lost sight of myself. I tried all kinds of striking form, but it didn’t lead to any results. I was afraid to even hold the bat. (omitted).

I am the type of person who is weak under pressure, and I dwell on things too much. When I make an error, I don’t eat for about two days. Normally, I can eat three large bowls of rice, cold noodles, and bibimbap while eating yakiniku, but my mind gets overwhelmed.

In May 2010, T-Okada adopted the no-step hitting method, in which he swings with his center of gravity lowered without moving both feet, on the advice of then manager Akifu Okada. His mitt rate increased dramatically, and he succeeded in hitting a lot of home runs.

Aoki, who had 2,730 hits in Japan and the U.S. with Yakult and other teams, went on to play for seven teams during his six years in the majors. In the March 2, 2006 issue of this magazine, he confessed his struggles in the United States.

I had to move around a lot. Especially in the central part of the country, such as Kansas City and Milwaukee, there was no Japanese community, and it was stressful at times. Although I never said it out loud, I think my wife (Mrs. Sachi), who always prepared Japanese food for me, went through a lot of hardship. （I was puzzled.)

I was perplexed. Because of the long distance travel every week and the exhaustion of competing in a series of matches, the amount of practice is restrained. In Japan, I took about 1,000 swings a day, but in the U.S. I took about one-fifth of that.

Legendary players who have set great records. However, there was a time when they struggled unnoticed before they achieved glory.