If there’s one thing Shohei Ohtani’s career has shown us so far, it’s how, in sport and elsewhere, preconceptions can be a barrier to progress and greatness.
Ohtani announced Saturday that he had agreed to sign a 10-year contract worth a total of $700 million with the Los Angeles Dodgers. This agreement makes him the highest paid athlete in the history of North American professional sports.
Although the incredible contracts make a lot of people nauseous, it is not necessary to complete a doctorate in economics to understand that the Dodgers – a very capitalist company – sharpened their pencils well before formulating this offer and that they expect to make a profit.
Shohei Ohtani is the only player in history to have been unanimously named his league’s Most Valuable Player twice. He is not only one of the best players in major league baseball: he is among the stars of his sport both as a pitcher and as a hitter. This is unheard of since the legendary Babe Ruth, who excelled in both roles from 1914 to 1921.
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In addition to being a unicorn on the field, Ohtani enjoys international superstar status, which is quite rare for a baseball player. He is of course revered in his country, Japan, where his MLB team’s games are televised and where prestigious sponsors compete for him. But Ohtani also has a real fascination with baseball fans in the United States, Canada, Latin America and wherever there is an interest in baseball.
In recent years, companies like ASICS, Descente, Nintendo, Japan Airlines, Nishikawa Co. and Seiko have been among Othani’s Japanese sponsors. And its Western sponsors included brands such as Porsche, Hugo Boss, Oakley, Topps, Fanatics, New Balance and Panini.
While the second most sponsored player in MLB (Aaron Judge) took home just under $5 million in advertising revenue last season, Ohtani earned more than $40 million according to the most conservative estimates.
In addition to having gotten their hands on two star players in one, the Dodgers have just shined such a spotlight on their organization.
Furthermore, the fact that they gave Ohtani $700 million without knowing how he will recover from a second right elbow tendon transplant in four years (Tommy John surgery) demonstrates the extent to which the Dodgers have valued power economics of its stardom. A bit like Inter Miami FC recently did with Lionel Messi.
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But anyway, let’s get back to the point of this column. Ultimately, what’s fascinating about Ohtani’s career is how much it’s been built on off-the-charts direction and decisions.
First, let’s put it like it is: Ohtani didn’t become MLB’s first all-star pitcher and hitter in a century because he possessed novel genetic qualities.
It is not written anywhere that a pitcher is prohibited from occupying another position and continuing to play games when he is not used on the mound. On the other hand, the world of North American baseball has always taken it for granted that such a thing did not happen.
Therefore, from the end of adolescence and regardless of their athletic qualities, athletes excelling at the pitching position were asked to concentrate on this skill. We therefore stopped using them in other positions and we no longer invited them, or very little, to batting practice sessions.
This notion that pitchers cannot hit well is deeply rooted in the mores of North American baseball. After all, the designated hitter rule has existed in the American League since 1973 and throughout MLB since 2022.
During his journey, Ohtani was fortunate to be led by coaches who had an open mind. If he had been born in Florida or California rather than Japan, he probably would never have been able to maximize his talent.
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Another interesting fact: even after hiring Ohtani, the management of the Los Angeles Angels was locked into a logic that it was impossible to combine the roles of pitcher and hitter on a regular basis.
Thus, the Angels did not allow Ohtani to pitch when he was serving as a pitcher. He was not used as a hitter the day before a start he was to make on the mound nor the day after. In his biography entitled The Book of Joeformer Angels manager Joe Maddon reveals that the organization constantly measured Ohtani’s energy level and that it was enough for him to have to dive a few times on the trails during a game for He was banned from playing the next day.
As a result, Ohtani only played a hundred matches per season and he did not play up to his talent. The turning point came in 2021 when Maddon invited Ohtani into his office to tell him they were going to stop treating him like a child.
There will be no more limits to your use. You will have the remote control in your hands. All I ask is that you be honest with me and tell me when you feel tired, Maddon warned.
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Shohei Ohtani’s career took off when Angels management trusted him to determine when he needed rest.
Photo : Getty Images / Kyle Rivas
Thus freed from the shackles imposed on him, Ohtani went on to have seasons of 155, 157 and 135 games. And he earned two Most Valuable Player honors.
If Ohtani had been led by a manager devoid of emotional intelligence or a sense of innovation, his career would have been very different.
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Finally, I was always fascinated by the fact that even the management of Ohtani’s career was approached from a different angle than what we usually see.
In December 2017, Othani surprised many people by choosing to make the jump to the major leagues at age 23.
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If he had waited until he was over 25 like his country’s other big stars had done, Ohtani would have started his North American career as a free agent with an incredible six or seven year guaranteed contract totaling approximately 200 millions.
However, Ohtani seemed to understand the importance of playing all his peak seasons in the MLB. Instead of a contract worth 200 million, he entered the Angels by signing a bonus of 2.135 million and being satisfied with the starting salaries (of $545,000 and $650,000) provided for in the collective agreement.
Both from a sporting and financial point of view, time measurement has immense importance in the world of sport.
For example, if Ichiro Suzuki had arrived in the MLB at 23 instead of 27, he would be considered one of the top three hitters of all time today. Such accomplishments have value.
As for Ohtani, if he had chosen the beaten path by signing a 200 million contract in 2019, he would have become independent in 2025 or 2026, at the age of 31 or 32. He probably would not have landed a contract as long and as lucrative as the one the Dodgers just gave him.
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In short, the fact that Shohei Ohtani is not a player like the others is largely the result of very daring decisions which called into question ways of doing things established for a long time.
So when we ask ourselves why things are done a certain way, the worst answer we can get is probably because we’ve always done it that way.
Shohei Ohtani is a unicorn because he innovated.
2023-12-10 21:40:15
#Shohei #Ohtani #story #innovative #athlete
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