Who Is Shohei Ohtani? The Full Story of the Two-Way Player Who Changed Baseball

Chapter 1Up to Hanamaki Higashi: 160 km/h and the Declaration to Go Straight to the Majors

Shohei Ohtani was born on July 5, 1994, in Mizusawa, Iwate Prefecture (now Oshu) ¹. According to an article in Nikkan Gendai, his father had played in corporate-league baseball and his mother had been a badminton player ³⁷. Because accounts of the family's background differ from one report to another, this article goes no further on it.

Hanamaki Higashi High School and manager Hiroshi Sasaki

Ohtani went on to Hanamaki Higashi High School, a private school in Hanamaki, Iwate Prefecture. The manager was Hiroshi Sasaki. Sasaki's name also appears as Hanamaki Higashi's manager in remarks by Takashi Obuchi, the Nippon-Ham scout who later negotiated to sign Ohtani (Weekly Gendai, February 9, 2013 issue) ³⁶.

One widely known anecdote from the Hanamaki Higashi years is the "goal-achievement sheet," on which goals were written into 81 squares. The chart has been introduced in many articles. But the original has never been officially released, and this research found no primary source that confirms when it was made or what method the chart was based on. For that reason this article does not go into the details of its contents.

The 160 km/h came in the semifinal

What spread Ohtani's name nationwide was his velocity. On July 19, 2012, in the semifinal of the Iwate tournament in the summer of his third year, against Ichinoseki Gakuin, Ohtani was clocked at 160 km/h. Shueisha's Sportiva writes that this was the fastest by a high schooler at the time ¹¹.

It is often said "160 in the final," but the record came in the semifinal. In the final he lost 5-3 to Morioka Daisan High School, and did not reach Koshien in his last summer ³⁵¹¹. Morioka Daisan's manager reportedly kept up a "virtual Ohtani" drill, taping a sheet of paper reading "Ohtani-kun" to a batting machine that can throw up to 165 km/h and having players hit from a shorter distance than usual ¹¹.

The declaration to "go directly to the majors"

On October 21, 2012, Ohtani held a press conference at Hanamaki Higashi and announced that he would go for MLB without passing through Japanese professional baseball. His words at the conference were that he wanted to "put myself in a harsh place and hone myself" ¹².

According to Obuchi's remarks, after Ohtani submitted his application to turn professional on September 18, it took time before he declared he would go to the majors, and the declaration slipped to four days before the draft. Obuchi also writes that there was information that his parents and manager Sasaki leaned toward playing in Japan ³⁶. The same remarks include a statement that the Dodgers had pursued him eagerly for three years ³⁶.

Even so, Nippon-Ham picked Ohtani first in the draft while he was openly stating his preference for MLB. According to Obuchi, general manager Masao Yamada decided on the pick saying he would take responsibility if the first-round player refused to sign ³⁶.

Chapter 2The Nippon-Ham Years: How the Two-Way Approach Was Designed

Ohtani's two-way career began with a proposal Nippon-Ham prepared for the signing negotiations. This chapter looks at what was in that proposal and what happened over the five years.

The document "A Signpost to His Dream"

The document Nippon-Ham presented in the negotiations was titled "Shohei Ohtani-kun: A Signpost to His Dream," with the subtitle "A Study of Early Overseas Moves in Japanese Sports." It set side by side the route to MLB through Japanese pro baseball and the route straight from high school to MLB, and laid out the conditions and disadvantages of each. Nippon-Ham published the document online after Ohtani decided to join, and GIGAZINE reported that it was a 26-page slide deck plus a 5-page appendix ¹³.

On the volume of the document and who made it, accounts differ. Scouting director Takashi Obuchi, in remarks in a Weekly Gendai article, says it was a 26-page document made by going to a family restaurant for about 10 days ³⁶. Number, on the other hand, writes "about 30 pages" ⁴, and J-CAST News reports that manager Hideki Kuriyama himself explained things with this document ³⁸. The accounts can be reconciled if Obuchi made it and Kuriyama also joined the explanation, but here we write only "a 26-page document made by the club (excluding the appendix)."

According to Obuchi's remarks, in the course of negotiations Ohtani's wishes were summed up as three: "I want to perform at the top," "I want to stay an active player for a long time," and "I want to be a pioneer." Nippon-Ham reportedly took the approach of not denying his aim of going to the majors, and instead having him choose Nippon-Ham as the road to get there ³⁶.

Manager Kuriyama's "develop him as a two-way player"

What manager Hideki Kuriyama set out clearly in the signing negotiations was a policy of developing him as both pitcher and hitter ⁴. Kuriyama later recalled that what stayed with him was how expressionless Ohtani was when he first spoke of the two-way idea ⁴. Obuchi too writes in his remarks that the two-way approach was an answer only Nippon-Ham could give to the wish to "be a pioneer" ³⁶.

On December 9, 2012, Ohtani announced that he would join Nippon-Ham ¹³.

The five years' results

According to the year-by-year statistics announced by Nippon-Ham, in his first year, 2013, Ohtani pitched in 13 games and appeared in 77 as a hitter. In 2014 he went 11-4 with a 2.61 ERA and, as a hitter, batted .274 with 10 home runs, recording double-digit wins and double-digit home runs in the same season ¹⁴. That year he was reported to have kept his place in the starting rotation at roughly six days' rest ¹⁵.

In 2015 he was 15-5 with a 2.24 ERA, a year centered on pitching ¹⁴. In June 2016, against the Giants at Tokyo Dome, he reached 163 km/h, and the club released commemorative goods for the "fastest in Japanese baseball" ³⁹.

2016: MVP and the Japan Series title

In 2016 Ohtani recorded, as a pitcher, 10-4 with a 1.86 ERA and 174 strikeouts in 21 games, and, as a hitter, a .322 average, 22 home runs and 67 RBI in 104 games ¹⁴. He was chosen Pacific League Most Valuable Player, with 253 of 254 valid votes being first-place votes ¹⁶. He was named to the Best Nine in two categories, pitcher (for the second time) and designated hitter (for the first) ⁴⁰.

In that year's Climax Series, in a game in which he started as the number 3 hitter and designated hitter, he gave up the DH role in the ninth inning, took the mound and was clocked at 165 km/h ⁴¹. In the Japan Series, Nippon-Ham beat Hiroshima 4-2 and won Japan's championship for the third time and the first in 10 years ¹⁷.

Note that in 2016 Ohtani was used with a limited number of games both as a pitcher and as a hitter. He threw 140 innings and appeared in 104 games ¹⁴. One sometimes sees the description "he reached the qualifying minimums for both pitching and hitting," but this article does not use that wording because it could not be confirmed in official NPB materials.

2017 and the posting

In 2017 he pitched in only five games and appeared in 65 games as a hitter ¹⁴. On December 15, 2017, Nippon-Ham announced that Ohtani's contract with the Angels, through the posting system (a mechanism that lets a player negotiate with MLB clubs with his club's consent), had been completed. His five-year totals are, as a pitcher, 42-15 with a 2.52 ERA in 85 games, and, as a hitter, a .286 average and 48 home runs in 403 games ¹⁴.

Chapter 3His Path in MLB: From the Angels to the Dodgers (as of October 25, 2026)

This chapter follows Ohtani's nine MLB seasons in order by year. Statistics and circumstances are all as of October 25, 2026.

Choosing the Angels (2017)

On December 8, 2017 (US time), Ohtani's agent Nez Balelo announced that he had agreed with the Los Angeles Angels. Seven teams reached the meeting stage, and the Angels were one of them. MLB.com reported that the Angels signed him using the $2.315 million remaining in their pool for international players, and were expected to pay Nippon-Ham a separate $20 million release fee ¹⁸. Ohtani was 23 at the time, and under the rules for international players under 25, his signing bonus was capped ¹⁸. In other words, he came to the United States without waiting until he reached the age at which he could sign a lucrative contract.

Rookie of the Year and the first surgery (2018 to 2020)

In his first year, 2018, Ohtani recorded, as a pitcher, 4-2 with a 3.31 ERA in 10 starts, and, as a hitter, a .285 average and 22 home runs in 114 games ¹. He was named American League Rookie of the Year, but the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA) gave him 25 of 30 first-place votes, so it was not unanimous ¹⁹.

After the season he underwent Tommy John surgery, which reconstructs the ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) on the inner side of the right elbow, and he could not pitch in 2019 ²⁰. In the shortened 2020 season too, he pitched in only two games ¹.

The two-way approach comes together (2021 to 2023)

In 2021 Ohtani recorded 46 home runs, 100 RBI and 26 stolen bases as a hitter and 9-2 with a 3.18 ERA in 23 games as a pitcher ¹, and was chosen American League MVP unanimously ²¹. In 2022 he went 15-9 with a 2.33 ERA and 219 strikeouts and hit 34 home runs ¹, the year with the greatest volume on both sides (666 plate appearances, 166 innings pitched) ³³.

In the World Baseball Classic (WBC) in March 2023, Japan beat the United States 3-2 in the final and won the title. Ohtani, who pitched the ninth, struck out his Angels teammate Mike Trout swinging to end the game, and was named tournament MVP ²³.

But in his start on August 23 of the same year he damaged the UCL in his right elbow, and from then on he focused on hitting. He underwent elbow surgery on September 19 ²⁰. The season ended with a .304 average and 44 home runs, leading the American League in home runs ⁴², and in November he was chosen MVP unanimously for the second time ²⁴.

The 10-year contract with the Dodgers (December 2023)

Having become a free agent, Ohtani signed a 10-year contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers in December 2023 ⁷. The total is $700 million, most of it deferred, to be paid after the contract period. We cover this mechanism in detail in Chapter 8 ²⁵⁸.

50-50 and back-to-back titles (2024 to 2025)

In 2024, his first year with the Dodgers, he did not pitch as he recovered from surgery and focused on hitting ¹². On September 19, in a game against the Marlins in Miami, he became the first in MLB to reach 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in the same season ⁶. He finished with 54 home runs and 59 stolen bases ¹, and the Dodgers beat the Yankees 4-1 in the World Series ²⁷. The National League MVP vote was unanimous ²⁸.

In June 2025, Ohtani returned to games as a pitcher for the first time in about two years ². As a hitter he hit a career-high 55 home runs ¹², and in the postseason, in Game 4 of the NLCS, he recorded three home runs and 10 strikeouts and became that series' MVP ³¹. The World Series went to an 11th inning in Game 7 against the Blue Jays, and the Dodgers won 5-4 to repeat as champions ²⁷. The World Series MVP was Yoshinobu Yamamoto, not Ohtani ⁴³. In November he was chosen MVP for the fourth time, unanimously ³.

2026: injuries and elimination

At the WBC in March 2026, Ohtani played as a hitter only, by agreement between himself and the Dodgers. Japan lost to Venezuela 8-5 in the quarterfinals, and Ohtani hit a leadoff home run in the first inning but was retired as the last batter ³².

In the regular season he hit .275 with 30 home runs in 139 games as a hitter, and went 8-2 with a 1.79 ERA in 14 starts as a pitcher ¹. But he hurt his left knee in June and his right biceps in July, and has not pitched since July 3 ³⁴³³. His hitting also slumped from mid-August, and in September he went on the injured list ³⁴.

The Dodgers finished the regular season 100-62, first in the National League West ⁴⁴, beat the Braves 3-1 in the Division Series, but were swept 4-0 by the Brewers in the Championship Series and eliminated. The last game was on October 15 ²⁷. Ohtani's postseason hitting was 5 hits in 26 at-bats (.192), and his only extra-base hit was a three-run home run in Game 4 of the Championship Series ³³. Awards such as the 2026 MVP had not yet been announced as of this article.

Chapter 4The History of the Two-Way Player: Ruth, the Negro Leagues, and Rewriting the Rules

The player Ohtani is often compared with is Babe Ruth. But more than 100 years separate the two, and in between both the leagues and the rules changed. This chapter uses the records to sort out why the two-way player disappeared for so long and what changed with Ohtani's arrival.

Ruth was a player who moved "from pitcher to hitter"

Looking at Babe Ruth's year-by-year appearances in MLB's official records, he pitched in 44 games in 1916 and 41 in 1917 with the Red Sox, so he was originally a pitcher by trade ⁴⁵. The two years one can call two-way are 1918 and 1919. In 1918 he went 13-7 with a 2.22 ERA as a pitcher and hit .300 with 11 home runs in 95 games as a hitter; in 1919 he went 9-5 with a 2.97 ERA as a pitcher and hit .322 with 29 home runs in 130 games as a hitter ⁴⁵.

After he moved to the Yankees in 1920, Ruth's pitching came to only five games in all, in 1920, 1921, 1930 and 1933 ⁴⁵. Ruth chose to focus on hitting, and his two-way period effectively ended after two years.

2022: Ohtani draws level with Ruth

On August 9, 2022, Ohtani held the Athletics scoreless over six innings and earned his 10th win of the season, a first for him in MLB ⁴⁶²². His home runs were already in double digits, and MLB.com noted that in the history of the American and National Leagues the only two to reach both 10 wins and 10 home runs in the same season are Ruth in 1918 and Ohtani ²². His final record that year was 15-9 and 34 home runs ¹.

In the same article, MLB.com writes that the same feat had happened twice in the Negro Leagues: Bullet Rogan in 1922 (14 wins, 15 home runs) and Ed Lyle in 1927 (11 wins, 11 home runs) ²².

Two-way players in the Negro Leagues

The Negro Leagues were leagues that Black players created in an era when they were shut out of MLB. In December 2020, MLB officially designated seven Negro Leagues from 1920 to 1948 as "major leagues" and announced that about 3,400 players would be treated as major leaguers ⁴⁷. In May 2024, the statistics of more than 2,300 players were incorporated into MLB's official records ⁴⁸.

MLB.com names Rogan, Martin Dihigo and Leon Day as representative two-way players of the Negro Leagues ⁴⁹. The National Baseball Hall of Fame introduces Rogan as not only one of the best pitchers in the Negro Leagues but also one of the best hitters. Rogan was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1998 ⁵⁰. The two-way approach, in other words, was not a lone exception in Ruth; it continued among players who had been placed outside the records.

MLB's rules changed

In MLB, pitchers and fielders are in principle registered with separate roles. A team can carry up to 13 pitchers (14 from September 1), and a fielder may pitch only in extra innings or in lopsided games ⁵.

What was put in place after Ohtani's arrival is the following category: the registration of a "two-way player." It applies to a player who, in that year or either of the previous two years, started at least 20 games (with at least three plate appearances in each) as a fielder or designated hitter and also pitched at least 20 innings, and he is not counted against the limit of 13 pitchers and can pitch in any situation ⁵.

Before the 2022 season, moreover, when a starting pitcher bats for himself, he is listed on the lineup card as two players, pitcher and designated hitter, and after leaving the mound he can remain in the game as the DH. This is Rule 5.11(b), generally called the "Ohtani rule" ⁵. The collective bargaining agreement of the same March 2022 also introduced the designated hitter in the National League ⁵¹.

Chapter 5Technique as a Pitcher: Velocity and How He Builds His Pitch Mix

Ohtani's character as a pitcher lies in the combination of a fast pitch and pitches that move sharply at the hitter. This chapter distinguishes the velocity figures precisely and then looks at changes in pitch shares and his results.

Velocity: there are two "fastest" pitches

Ohtani's velocity records split in two depending on which game they were measured in.

One is the WBC quarterfinal against Italy at Tokyo Dome on March 16, 2023. In the second inning he struck out Vinnie Pasquantino of the Royals, whom he would later face in regular-season play, swinging on a 102 mph (about 164 km/h) fastball. MLB.com reported it as his fastest among pitches tracked by Statcast (MLB's pitch and batted-ball tracking system), writing that his previous fastest was 101.4 mph in a September 2022 game against the Astros ⁹.

The other is his fastest in MLB regular-season games. In a game against the Royals on June 28, 2025, Ohtani threw 101.7 mph (about 164 km/h), and MLB.com published video of it as his fastest ¹⁰. The WBC is an international tournament and is not part of MLB regular-season records. This article writes it separately: "fastest by Statcast measurement is 102 mph (WBC), fastest in a regular-season game is 101.7 mph."

In Japan he was clocked at 165 km/h in the 2016 Climax Series ⁴¹. Because the measurement methods differ, the Japanese and American figures cannot be compared directly.

A fastball and a home run in the same game

As an example of showing pitch speed and batted-ball speed in the same game, MLB.com cites the game of April 4, 2021. In that game Ohtani threw a fastest pitch of 101.1 mph and, as a hitter, hit a home run with an exit velocity of 115.2 mph. According to MLB.com, it was the first time since Statcast began tracking in 2015 that a player recorded a batted ball of 110 mph or more and a pitch of 100 mph or more in the same game ⁵³.

How the pitch shares changed

Looking at pitch shares in MLB's official data, the way Ohtani builds his pitching has changed from year to year ⁵².

In his first year, 2018, by MLB's current classification, the fastball (four-seam) was 46.4%, the sweeper (a slider that breaks widely sideways, listed as a slider at the time) 24.6%, and the splitter (a pitch that drops at the hitter) 22.4%, and these three pitches made up nearly all of his throws ⁵².

By 2022 the sweeper was the most used at 37.4%, and the fastball had fallen to 27.3%. The splitter was down to 11.9%, and compared with 2018 the shares of the cutter, curveball and sinker had grown ⁵². In 2023 the sweeper was 35.0% and the splitter was down to 5.8% ⁵².

In 2025 and 2026, pitching for the Dodgers, the share of fastballs rose again. In 2026 it was fastball 45.1%, sweeper 29.4%, curveball 10.0% and splitter 8.5%. His average fastball velocity in 2026 was 98.1 mph, faster than the 96.7 mph of 2018 ⁵².

Ohtani the pitcher by the numbers

His best year as a pitcher, on the numbers, is 2022. He started 28 games and went 15-9 with a 2.33 ERA and 219 strikeouts in 166 innings ¹. That is about 11.9 strikeouts per nine innings (the editors' calculation).

In 2023 he held opposing batters to a .184 average, the lowest among American League pitchers with 130 or more innings ⁴².

In 2025, returning from elbow surgery, he started 14 games with his workload strictly managed and had a 2.87 ERA over 47 innings ². In 2026 he posted even better numbers, 8-2 with a 1.79 ERA in 14 games ¹. According to MLB.com, though, his ERA was 0.74 over his first 10 starts, against 4.38 over his last four, when he was pitching with a sore left knee ³⁴. His 85 2/3 innings fall short of the qualifying minimum ¹.

In Game 4 of the NLCS on October 17, 2025, he held the opposition scoreless for six-plus innings and struck out 10. In the first inning, after walking the leadoff batter, he struck out the next three in a row, two of them on pitches over 100 mph ³¹.

Chapter 6Technique as a Hitter: Exit Velocity and the Day of 50-50

Ohtani has played every year as a hitter, including 2024, when he did not pitch. This chapter looks at exit velocity, home runs and stolen bases, and the 2026 slump through the records.

How hard he hits the ball

Statcast measures the speed of the ball the instant it leaves the bat (exit velocity). Ohtani's maximum exit velocity by year was 119.0 mph in 2021, 119.1 mph in 2022, 118.6 mph in 2023, 119.2 mph in 2024, and 120.0 mph (about 193 km/h) in 2025 ⁵⁴. In 2026 it was 114.6 mph, more than 5 mph lower than the year before ⁵⁴.

Exit velocity is often used in MLB analysis as a measure linked to how far a ball travels and how likely it is to become a hit.

Home runs, and his value as a designated hitter

His MLB home runs by year are 46 in 2021, 34 in 2022, 44 in 2023, 54 in 2024, 55 in 2025 and 30 in 2026, for a career total of 310 ¹. In 2023 he led the American League with 44 home runs, and his .412 on-base percentage, .654 slugging percentage and 1.066 OPS also led the league ⁴². OPS is on-base percentage plus slugging percentage, often used to gauge a hitter's overall ability.

In 2024 he hit .310 with 54 home runs and 130 RBI, his 411 total bases and 99 extra-base hits were first in MLB, and his 134 runs were a Dodgers record since the team moved to Los Angeles ⁵⁷. That year Ohtani did not pitch and played as a designated hitter without taking the field. In a 2025 article MLB.com writes that Ohtani in 2024 was the first full-time designated hitter to win MVP. However, the BBWAA wrote the same thing, "first designated hitter to win MVP," for his 2021 award, when he also pitched ²¹, so it is accurate to read it as "first non-pitching designated hitter" ². In 2025 he set a new career high with 55 home runs, and his 1.014 OPS was first in the National League and his 146 runs first in MLB ².

The day of 50-50

On September 19, 2024, in the game against the Marlins in Miami, Ohtani went 6 for 6 with 3 home runs, 10 RBI and 2 stolen bases ⁵⁵⁵⁷. In the first inning he stole third base to reach 50 steals on the season, and he added more steals, then hit his 49th home run in the sixth inning and his 50th in the seventh. It was the first time in MLB that a player reached both 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in the same season, and he also passed the Dodgers franchise record of 49 home runs held by Shawn Green ⁶.

According to MLB's announcement, Ohtani was the first player, at least since 1901, to record five or more hits, multiple home runs and multiple stolen bases in a single game ⁶. His career high in steals before 2024 was 26 in 2021. In 2024 too, at the end of June he had 16 steals against 26 home runs, and his steals rose sharply in the second half. At the time of the announcement, after being caught on his first steal attempt after the All-Star Game, he had succeeded 28 times in a row ⁶.

The 2026 slump

In 2026 Ohtani hit .275 with 30 home runs and an .889 OPS in 139 games as a hitter, and his home run total was the team's highest ¹³³. But the second half of the season fell apart badly.

According to an MLB.com data-analysis article dated October 14 (numbers through Game 2 of the NLCS), his last regular-season home run was on August 18. His average against fastballs of 95 mph or more fell from .280 through August 18 to .036 from August 19 on, including the postseason. His September strikeout rate was 39%, the second highest of any month in his career, and the article pointed out that the timing of his swing was late ⁵⁶. In the Division Series he batted fifth, his lowest lineup spot in more than six years ⁵⁶.

In the 29 games since August 8 he hit .205, which coincides with the period when he began throwing in preparation for a return as a pitcher ³⁴.

Chapter 7Value Seen Through Records and Statistics: Four Unanimous MVPs and WAR

When talking about Ohtani's value, the number of MVPs and the word "unanimous" are often brought up. This chapter checks how the records are counted and sorts out what the numbers mean.

Year-by-year results

First, here is a table of his main year-by-year results at Nippon-Ham and in MLB. The table also shows that in MLB he did not pitch in 2019 and 2024, and that years he went through as a full two-way player are limited ¹¹⁴.

For the Nippon-Ham years, only items confirmed in the club's year-by-year statistics table are listed (blank items are not listed). All of his MLB pitching appearances were starts. Statistics are as of the end of the 2026 regular season and do not include the postseason.

Who chooses the MVP, and how

MLB's Most Valuable Player is chosen by BBWAA writers, 30 voting for each league. They rank players from first to tenth, and the result is determined by the sum of points according to rank ³. In the 2025 National League, Ohtani collected all 30 first-place votes for 420 points, Kyle Schwarber was second with 260 points, and Juan Soto third with 231 ³. In the 2021 American League too it was 30 first-place votes and 420 points ²¹.

What "four unanimous" exactly means

Ohtani's MVPs were 2021 and 2023 in the American League and 2024 and 2025 in the National League, and all four times he took every first-place vote ^2124283. At the 2025 award, MLB.com wrote that there have been 24 unanimous MVPs since the award became official, and that Ohtani is the only one with more than one ².

How the record is described has been updated with each award. The BBWAA wrote in 2023 that it was the first time anyone had won unanimously twice ²⁴, and the Dodgers announced in 2024 that it was the first time anyone had won unanimously a third time ⁵⁷.

On the other hand, the 2018 Rookie of the Year was not unanimous. He had 25 of 30 first-place votes ¹⁹. Introductions saying "unanimous for every award" are mistaken.

The number of MVPs, and other comparisons

According to MLB.com, the only players with four or more MVPs are Barry Bonds, with seven, and Ohtani. Winning three years in a row has also been done only by Bonds (2001 to 2004) and Ohtani ². He is the second to win MVP in both leagues, after Frank Robinson, and the first to win multiple times in both leagues ².

The same article reports, citing OptaSTATS, that among North America's four major professional sports, no player before Ohtani had won both MVP and a championship in each of his first two seasons with a team. The only examples of winning MVP and the World Series two years in a row are Joe Morgan in 1975 to 1976 and Ohtani ².

Other honors recorded for Ohtani in MLB's official data include the 2023 WBC tournament MVP and the 2025 NLCS MVP ⁵⁸.

WAR differs by source

WAR (Wins Above Replacement) is often used as a measure of a player's overall contribution. It estimates how many more wins a player adds to his team compared with a replacement-level player. Its distinguishing feature is that a player's contribution as a pitcher and as a hitter can be expressed in the same unit of wins.

But WAR has no single standardized formula, and each site calculates it differently. Ohtani's 2025 WAR was 9.4 by FanGraphs' calculation (fWAR), second in MLB, and 7.7 by Baseball-Reference's (bWAR), third in MLB ². For the same player in the same season, that is a gap of 1.7 wins. In this article, whenever WAR is cited, the source of the calculation is always given. WAR for other years is not listed, because this research could not confirm primary figures for them.

Chapter 8Contracts, Sponsors and Economic Impact: What Is Inside the $700 Million

Talk of Ohtani's contract and money tends to focus only on the size of the amounts. This chapter separates the structure of the contract from the nature of the income and economic-impact figures.

The first contract, with the Angels

When Ohtani signed with the Angels in 2017, the signing bonus was not large. Because international players under 25 face a cap on signing bonuses, the Angels signed him with the $2.315 million remaining in their pool for international players. It was reported that a separate $20 million release fee would be paid to Nippon-Ham ¹⁸.

The 10-year, $700 million deal with the Dodgers

In December 2023, Ohtani signed a 10-year contract with the Dodgers ⁷. MLB.com reported that the $700 million total is seen as the largest contract in the history of world sports ²⁵.

The characteristic of this contract is that most of it is deferred. According to a summary by the US sports outlet The Ringer, the Dodgers pay Ohtani $2 million each year for the ten years from 2024 to 2033, and then $68 million each year for the ten years from 2034 to 2043. $680 million, 97% of the total, is deferred, and carries no interest ⁸.

MLB.com reported, citing people with knowledge, that the deferral was Ohtani's own idea and was above all meant to let the team win. It is also said to have tax advantages ²⁵.

The "annual average" for the luxury tax

MLB has a "luxury tax" (competitive balance tax) imposed when a club's payroll exceeds a certain amount. For a deferred contract, the annual average is calculated by discounting the future payments to present value. According to The Ringer, by this calculation the annual average of Ohtani's contract comes to about $46 million, the same treatment as a 10-year, $460 million contract with no deferral ⁸.

MLB's collective bargaining agreement places no cap on the amount or share of deferrals ⁸. In other words, this contract was structured within the rules. We cover criticism of the deferral in Chapter 9.

Sponsorship income (estimate)

Most of Ohtani's income comes not from his club salary but from off-field income such as sponsorship deals. In the American business magazine Forbes' 2026 list of the world's highest-paid athletes, his income for the previous year through May 22, 2026, was estimated at $127.6 million ⁵⁹. According to Jiji Press he ranked fifth, and $125 million of it was off-field income, the largest amount among all players on the list ⁶⁰.

The sports business outlet Sportico also estimated his 2026 sponsorship income at $125 million. It also writes that before Ohtani, the ceiling for MLB players' sponsorship income was about $10 million, as for Derek Jeter and Ichiro ⁶¹. These are all estimates by media outlets, not figures released by Ohtani or the clubs.

Economic impact (estimate)

In Japan, Professor Emeritus Katsuhiro Miyamoto of Kansai University estimated the economic impact of Ohtani in 2025 at about 130.29 billion yen (130,285.73 million yen) and announced it on October 1, 2025 ⁶². However, the announcement does not show the amounts in the breakdown of the estimate. Economic impact is an estimate that varies greatly depending on how far spending is counted and how ripple effects are estimated.

On viewing, the research firm Video Research announced that an estimated 56.562 million people across Japan watched at least one of all five games of the 2024 World Series in real time ⁶³.

Chapter 9Limits and Debates: The Scandal, Injuries, and Questions About the Deferral

Alongside the dazzling records, Ohtani's path includes a scandal, injuries and debate over his contract. This chapter sorts out each as far as can be confirmed.

The theft case involving his former interpreter

In March 2024, Ohtani's lawyers charged that Ippei Mizuhara, who had long served as his interpreter, had stolen Ohtani's money on a large scale to pay an illegal bookmaker (a gambling middleman). The Dodgers fired Mizuhara, and MLB's investigations department began an inquiry ²⁶.

On June 4, 2024, Mizuhara pleaded guilty to bank fraud and filing a false tax return in federal court in Santa Ana, California. He admitted stealing about $17 million from Ohtani and, in court, said he had run up large gambling debts and had access to the account ²⁶.

In an affidavit filed by investigators in April, there was said to be no evidence that Ohtani knew about Mizuhara's betting or his use of the account, and that years of message exchanges contained no talk of betting. The US attorney at the time stressed that Ohtani was a victim ²⁶. MLB issued a statement saying that, in light of the thoroughness of the federal investigation and the fact that the criminal proceedings were resolved without being contested, it regarded Ohtani as a victim of fraud and was ending its inquiry ²⁶.

On February 6, 2025, federal district court judge John Holcomb sentenced Mizuhara to 57 months in prison and three years of supervised release after release. He also ordered him to repay about $17 million to Ohtani and about $1.1 million to the Internal Revenue Service. Prosecutors had sought 57 months and the defense 18 months ³⁰. This article could not open the US Department of Justice announcement itself, so the details of the sentence are based on reporting (ESPN).

The two elbow surgeries

Ohtani's right elbow has undergone major surgery twice. The first was after the 2018 season, Tommy John surgery to repair a torn UCL (ulnar collateral ligament) ²⁰.

The second was on September 19, 2023. He damaged the UCL in his start on August 23 of that year, and the surgeon, Dr. Neal ElAttrache, explained that the procedure repaired the problem area and reinforced the healthy ligament by adding tissue ²⁰. This surgery is sometimes called "the second Tommy John surgery" in news reports, but the doctor's explanation was "repair and reinforcement," and this article, following MLB.com, writes it as "a second major surgery on the elbow" ²⁰².

The left shoulder, and the 2026 injuries

In Game 2 of the 2024 World Series, he subluxed his left shoulder while trying to steal second base. It is the shoulder opposite his throwing arm. He played in the remaining three games and went 1 for 11, and in November 2024 he underwent surgery to repair the labrum (the cartilage that rims the shoulder joint) ²⁹.

In 2026, according to MLB.com's timeline, he left a game on June 11 with inflammation in his left knee, and in his July 3 start he was pulled for a pinch hitter with tightness in his right biceps. That was his last start. On July 25 he stopped throwing, resumed in August, but went on the injured list on September 11 ³⁴. At a press conference after the season, Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said no surgery is needed and that he expects Ohtani to pitch in 2027 ³³. At the same time, he also said that around the time Ohtani returned from the injured list, Ohtani had not been fully forthcoming about the state of his body ³⁴.

MLB.com points out that Ohtani has never yet started a season both pitching and hitting and also pitched in the postseason in the same year ³³.

The debate over the deferred contract

As we saw in Chapter 8, 97% of the total of the contract with the Dodgers is deferred ⁸. This arrangement prompted a view that "they are using a loophole to avoid the luxury tax." The Ringer explains that because the luxury tax is calculated by discounting deferrals to present value, the understanding that a loophole was used is mistaken ⁸.

On the other hand, the same article raises other points. California imposes the highest state income tax in the country on people earning over $1 million a year, and if Ohtani lives outside the state after leaving the Dodgers, the deferred portion might not be taxed at that rate. It also says that, as long as deferrals are not forced on players, a larger total is not bad for the players' union either, while whether clubs will seek a cap in the next labor negotiation depends on how they view the effect on competitive fairness ⁸.

Between the national team and the club

At the 2026 WBC, Ohtani played as a hitter only, by agreement between himself and the Dodgers. After Japan lost in the quarterfinal, manager Hirokazu Ibata said in effect that there had been no option of having Ohtani pitch during the game: of course he would have wanted him to pitch, but he could not choose that ³². It means there was a case where the national team's way of playing was determined by an arrangement with his club.