Major League Baseball

What does Shohei Ohtani still have to accomplish? A look at his high school goal list

Published Oct. 31, 2024 9:07 p.m. ET

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Shohei Ohtani added the one major accomplishment that had eluded his already illustrious career on Wednesday night.

The two-way superstar won his first World Series title, helping the Los Angeles Dodgers take down the New York Yankees in five games. As Ohtani suffered a shoulder injury late in Game 2, he didn't have his best showing at the plate in the Fall Classic. He went 2-for-19 (.105) at the plate, failing to register a home run or an RBI.

Of course, Ohtani was arguably the biggest reason why the Dodgers were even in the World Series to begin with. He became the first player in MLB history to record 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in a regular season, making him the likely NL MVP winner. He also hit .364 with two homers in the Dodgers' NLCS win over the New York Mets.

At 30, Ohtani has already built a strong case as one of the best players in MLB history. He'll obviously have plenty of time to add to his case as well, and he'll make his return to the mound in 2025 after rehabbing from elbow surgery he underwent in late 2023.

As Ohtani looks to add to his legacy, the future Hall of Famer actually mapped out his career when he was a high schooler in Japan. In the list, Ohtani wrote down each goal he'd like to accomplish at each age. The list included professional and personal goals, which could maybe serve as a guideline for what Ohtani still wants to accomplish in his career.

Here's a complete look at Ohtani's goal list:

• Age 18: Join an MLB team
• Age 19: Master English and reach AAA
• Age 20: Called up to the Majors, make 1.5 billion JPY (translates to $13 million in US)
• Age 21: Starting rotation, 16 wins
• Age 22: Win the Cy Young Award
• Age 23: Member of Japan WBC team
• Age 24: Throw a no-hitter and 25 wins
• Age 25: Throw fastest pitch in the world 175 kph (or 108 mph)
• Age 26: Win the World Series and get married
• Age 27: Member of Japan WBC team & MVP
• Age 28: 1st son is born
• Age 29: Throw 2nd no-hitter
• Age 30: Get most wins by a Japanese pitcher
• Age 31: 1st daughter is born
• Age 32: Win 2nd World Series
• Age 33: 2nd son is born
• Age 34: Win 3rd World Series
• Age 35: Member of Japan WBC team
• Age 36: Break the strikeout record?
• Age 37: 1st son starts baseball
• Age 38: Stats drop, start to think about retirement
• Age 39: Decide to retire at end of next season
• Age 40: Throw no-hitter in my very last game
• Age 41: Return to Japan
• Age 42: Introduce the American system to Japan?

So far, Ohtani has accomplished six of those items on the list. He made his MLB debut in 2018, checking off another goal when he earned $30 million in arbitration when he was with the Los Angeles Angels in 2023. He made Japan's World Baseball Classic team in 2023, winning the MVP of the tournament with his two-way prowess helping his native country beat the USA in the final.

Ohtani was a few years off on when he would win his first World Series, predicting he'd win it as a 26-year-old in 2020. However, he was correct that he would win the World Series within a year of getting married, as he wedded Japanese basketball player Mamiko Tanaka ahead of the 2024 offseason. 

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Even though most of the records Ohtani has made have come at the plate or on the basepaths, many of his individual goals list were focused on the mound. He rose to prominence in high school due to his pitching ability, throwing the fastest pitch ever for a Japanese high schooler at 99 mph. 

As Ohtani prepares to return to the mound in 2025, some of those pitching goals seem obtainable while some of them might be a bit out of reach. His career-high in wins is 15, which he accomplished in 2022. So, 16+ wins in a season seems doable. But 25 wins in a season is probably unlikely, as former Athletics pitcher Bob Welch was the last pitcher to reach that number, doing so in 1990. 

Throwing a 108 mph pitch is also probably unlikely to happen. He threw a 102 mph pitch during the 2023 World Baseball Classic, which was the fastest pitch he's ever recorded. For perspective, the fastest pitch ever recorded in the modern era belongs to a 105.8 mph fastball from Aroldis Chapman in 2010. Ohtani's former Angels teammate Ben Joyce is one of the few who has even come close, firing a 105.5 mph pitch in September.

Ohtani will almost certainly not set the strikeout record, either, especially if he plans to retire at 40. He's recorded 608 career strikeouts, which is 5,000 fewer than Nolan Ryan's record (5,714). Ryan played for an MLB record 27 years. 

A few of the other pitching goals seem plausible, though. If Ohtani averaged roughly nine wins per season over the next 10 years, he'd break Hideo Nomo's record for most wins ever by a Japanese pitcher (123). He finished fourth in the AL Cy Young vote in 2022, showing he has the upside to possibly win the award. Ohtani has only thrown one complete-game shutout in his career, but he only allowed one hit in that start. So, he's already come within reach of pitching a no-hitter.

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Of course, the other professional goals that Ohtani had on his list were to win a second and third World Series title. He seemed to amend those goals following the Dodgers' World Series victory on Wednesday.

"In his first year [with the Dodgers], he won a championship," Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman told reporters of Ohtani. "He's like, ‘This is easy. We're just gonna do it again nine more times.'"

As Friedman is referring to, Ohtani still has nine seasons remaining on the 10-year, $700 million contract he signed with the Dodgers last offseason. If Ohtani miraculously wins a title in each season remaining on his contract, it won't matter if he accomplishes the individual goals on his list. He'd almost certainly be viewed as the best player in baseball history if he won 10 titles in a row. 

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