Shohei Ohtani: The Amazing Story of Baseball's Two-Way Japanese Superstar

by Jay Paris

Overview

With highlights Shohei Ohtani’s best games on the mound and at bat for the Los Angeles Angels from each month of his rookie season—as well as anecdotes of his life in America—this is one book that every fan of Major League Baseball will want.

Rarely does anyone use the term “two-way” in regard to a baseball player. Yet the Los Angeles Angels’ Shohei Ohtani, at the young age of twenty-three, has become the epitome of the term, drawing comparisons to Babe Ruth by baseball pundits everywhere.

After being drafted by the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters of the Japan Pacific League with the number-one pick in 2012, the eighteen-year-old Ohtani struggled with the bat during his rookie season. However, he had a breakout year in 2014, posting a 2.61 ERA in 24 starts and 179 strikeouts (as well as 10 home runs). By 2017, all thirty Major League Baseball teams had heard about the Japanese phenom and expressed interest in signing him. Ultimately, the Angels offered him the opportunity to compete as a two-way player and the chance to accomplish his professional goals.

After a quiet spring training, Ohtani broke out in the first two weeks of the 2018 regular season, becoming just the 14th pitcher in major-league history to strike out 12 batters in one of his first two starts. He also homered in three consecutive games during that stretch. Shohei Ohtani: The Amazing Story of Baseball’s Two-Way Japanese Superstar tells the story of the player from rural Japan who became a two-way star not seen in America since Babe Ruth.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781683583028
Publisher:	Sports Publishing LLC
Publication date:	11/20/2018
Pages:	168
Sales rank:	518,837
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Jay Paris is a celebrated sports journalist and the author of Game of My Life San Diego Chargers and Game of My Life Rams. A three-time recipient of awards from the Pro Football Writers Association of America, Paris has served as web editor for Mighty1090AM.com, a Southern California sports site, since 2014.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments v

Foreword Mark Langston vii

Preface xi

Chapter 1 "Hi, my name is Shohei Ohtani" 1

Chapter 2 Ohtani's Youth Was Filled with Baseball 7

Chapter 3 On Second Thought, Ohtani Stays Put 11

Chapter 4 From the Preps to the Pros 13

Chapter 5 Breaking Out with Both Sides of His Game 17

Chapter 6 At Long Last, "Sho-Time" Was Headed to the Majors 21

Chapter 7 Time for L.A. to Introduce Its Heaven-sent Angel 27

Chapter 8 Spring Training Delivers More Questions than Answers 31

Chapter 9 Marching In with a Roar 37

Chapter 10 Ohtani Continues to Bloom in May 53

Chapter 11 Ohtani's Elbow Stalls His Historic Journey 71

Chapter 12 Ohtani Inches His Way Back to the Mound 81

Chapter 13 Ohtani Enters August Looking to Get Right against Lefties 97

Chapter 14 A September to Remember 115