Shohei Ohtani's Beginnings: How the Nippon-Ham Fighters Built a Two-Way Star
He wanted to go straight to the majors out of high school, until the Fighters changed his mind with a written plan. From 2013 to 2017, Ohtani turned the two-way idea into reality in Hokkaido.
Today Shohei Ohtani is the most famous baseball player in the world. Before he became a major league superstar, though, he spent five seasons with the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters. It was there that the two-way player went from an idea many people doubted to something real.
A plan that changed his path
Ohtani grew up in Iwate Prefecture and hit 160 km/h with his fastball at Hanamaki Higashi High School, which made him a national sensation. Before the 2012 draft he said publicly that he wanted to go straight to the United States after graduating rather than join a Japanese club.
The Fighters drafted him in the first round anyway and handed him a detailed written plan. It laid out the risks Japanese players faced going directly to America and proposed a route in which he would both pitch and hit, build a foundation in Japan and then take on the majors. The plan won him over, and he decided to start his career at home.
Five two-way years
Ohtani debuted in 2013 as both a pitcher and a position player. Many former stars and commentators argued that trying to do both would mean doing neither well, and that he should choose one. The Fighters and Ohtani stuck with the plan, adjusting as they went and building experience.
In 2014 he became the first player in NPB history to reach double figures in both wins and home runs in the same season. In 2016 he won 10 games and hit 22 home runs, led the Fighters to the Japan Series title and was named Pacific League MVP. That same year he threw a 165 km/h fastball, an NPB record.
From Hokkaido to the world
After the 2017 season Ohtani moved to the Los Angeles Angels through the posting system. He kept playing both ways in the majors, won Rookie of the Year and later two American League MVP awards. In the 2023 World Baseball Classic he led Japan to the title and was named tournament MVP. After joining the Dodgers in 2024, he became the first player in major league history with 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in a season, and won the World Series.
All of it began in Hokkaido, with a club willing to take a risk and stay patient so that a plan many called impossible had a chance to work.
What the Fighters left behind
Since Ohtani's departure the Fighters have moved into a new home, ES CON Field, opened in 2023, and remain known for developing young players. His success has also made Japanese clubs more willing to give unusually gifted players room to develop in their own way, instead of forcing everyone into the same mould.
How the plan was built
The Fighters' approach was careful rather than reckless. Ohtani's workload was managed closely, with rest days built around his starts so that pitching and hitting did not wear him down at the same time. Coaches worked on both skills in parallel instead of asking him to finish one before starting the other. That structure is a big reason he arrived in the majors healthy and ready to do both.
Why the plan convinced him
What made the Fighters' pitch work was that it took his dream seriously instead of arguing against it. The plan did not ask him to give up on the majors; it showed how starting in Japan could make him better prepared when he arrived. For a teenager weighing a life-changing decision, that respect mattered as much as the numbers.
For Baseball Dream players
In Baseball Dream, two-way ability is part of the game's foundation: any player can have both pitching and hitting skills. Ohtani's story is a reminder not to decide too early what a young player is. Give them chances at different positions; your team may already have the next two-way star.