Shohei Ohtani is a recognized baseball player who hails from Japan. The player came into the limelight because of his career as a baseball player and has attracted the same recognition from his parents, especially his father.
Shohei signed a $700 million contract with MLB in 2023, and he has continued to make a name for himself, as a skilled baseball pitcher. Toru Ohtani is Shohei’s father, who continues to live in Japan.
During Shohei’s 2018 MLB debut as a baseball player, his parents showed great support, despite living thousands of miles apart. Some records indicate that Shohei’s skills in baseball started from his father, Toru. Here is everything we know about the celebrity father!
Toru Ohtani Was a Baseball Player
Shohei’s love for baseball did not come about by mistake. Shohei seems to have inherited the love for baseball from his father, Toru who played the game at the industrial league level. According to a trusted Japanese publication, Toru did not proceed with baseball to a professional level, but he was an outfielder for a corporate-sponsored baseball team.
Despite showing great promise as a baseball player, Toru retired early at the age of 25. The retirement came early because Toru experienced a shoulder injury. After he retired, he went on to work full-time at a Mitsubishi company.
Toru Ohtani’s Wife Was an Athlete
What is surprising is that both of Shohei’s parents were athletes. His mother Kayoko was an amateur badminton player, playing at the same level as her husband. When Shohei was talking about his family, he joked that his mother might have been the stronger athlete.
In the 2017 MLB interview, the baseball pitcher revealed that he would not beat his mother in badminton. Kayoko began playing badminton at a young age, and she continued playing the game even after she welcomed her son Shohei.
Toru’s Children
Toru is a proud father to three children. His son Shohei is the last born who was born in 1994, after his elder brother Ryuta and sister Yuka. Toru has been dedicated to ensuring his children have the best, which sometimes meant that he would be unavailable and busy day and night working. The proud father revealed to a Japanese magazine that when his eldest son was born, he was busy working day and night shifts at the car assembly. As a result, he spent little time with his son.
Toru’s eldest son is also a baseball player and coach for a corporate baseball team. As much as he wanted to be a better baseball player, Ryuta’s high school team did not progress as far as he wanted, leaving him disappointed. Taking note of his son’s disappointment, Toru promised to be there for his youngest son and help him improve his game.
Toru was Shohei’s baseball coach from elementary school through to high school, and it helped Shohei to work hard. Despite being coached by his father, he worked hard to avoid being called out by his friends.
