Shohei Ohtani: Beyond the Dream – A Documentary on the Rise of Baseball’s Most Spectacular Player

On Disney Plus (pla for the most crazy) is the documentary Shohei Ohtani: beyond the dream. It talks about the first part of the player’s career. The part where we all liked him.
Shohei tells us about his games in school, high school and the Japanese league. His idols come out talking and how his role models in the game: Pedro Martínez and Hideki Matsui (among others) have become admirers.
As a child, Ohtani decided that when he grew up he wanted to be a baseball player and he talks to us about his commitment to the game. Since he was little, he draws up a plan (he leaves it in writing) that he follows until he becomes what we see him being today, the most spectacular player of this century.
One of the people who has helped the Japanese player the most is Hideki Kuriyama, who was the coach who supported Sohei’s two sides from the beginning. He was the one who always trusted the two-way side of him. He trained him in the Hokkaido Fighters (Ohtani’s debut team) and was also the coach who decided that he would close the WBC against the USA. Of course, within Japanese culture, this relationship between master and apprentice is one of maximum respect, and Kuriyama continues to have a great influence on decisions, and even drops what some of us imagined: he plans to incorporate defense into the Japanese game. , probably as 1B or as an outfielder.
Another figure of great relevance in Ohtani’s professional life is Joe Maddon, a coach who trained him in the Angels and was one of the greatest defenders of the player’s bidirectionality. Although Shohei did not hit as a quality DH in his early years, Maddon continued to bet on the player. And, according to the documentary, the player takes the opinion of his former manager into account.
CC Sabathia, on the other hand, is surprised at how a person who dedicates himself so obsessively to improving, and to one thing, manages to achieve his goals. He comments that he would not have been able to and that his family and his children have made it possible for him to focus on baseball and not have gotten “clueless” more than he did.

A player with whom he shared a team and number, but not at the same time, evidently, is Yu Darvish. Both played with the Fighters’ number 11, a very important number on the team. Many questioned whether Ohtani was up to the number, but Darvish defends Shohei by saying that even in his youth he showed outstanding ways, and how they maintain a good relationship. So much so that he was the one who convinced Yu to go to the WBC and help Japan win it.
Another of the protagonists of the documentary is Nez Balelo, his representative. It seems that they have a relationship of maximum trust. Without a doubt, the pitcher/batter has to be your most important player and it shows. Shohei talks about why he chose the Angels as his first team in America. (During the documentary he had not yet signed up for the neighbors). He says that he meditates a lot on his decisions and that although the rational part influences him, in the end he lets himself be guided by his instinct. And that in the Angels he understood that he was going to find what he was looking for. A good place to adapt: ​​new team, new city, new language, new league, new country… and he wanted a friendly environment and the possibility of continuing to develop as a two-way player; Anaheim fulfilled everything. The documentary is recorded in 2022 and, until that moment, he was happy with his decision, although we have already seen that he has changed his mind, to the sadness of many and the joy of a few.
The film lasts 100 minutes and is a series of interviews with videos of some specific plays. Artistically it has no value, but it is well documented and, if you are interested in baseball, the player is interesting. I imagine that if you are from the Dodgers and you want to talk about your brand new signing, you have no choice but to watch it.

2023-12-30 08:00:52
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