Did Shohei Ohtani's childhood mentor foresee his injury struggles? Revisiting coach Shoji Asari's verdict on two-way phenom's dual workload

In an MLB replete with modern-super athletes, Shohei Ohtani is a cut above. The Los Angeles Angels star dominated on the mound this season. Additionally, the first player to ever strike out 100 while simeltanously hitting 100 or more RBIs has been lethal in the batters box.

In addition to holding a 10-5 record and a 3.14 ERA, the 29-year old leads the entire league in runs, walks, triples, home runs and slugging percentage. To say that Ohtani is a superhuman would not be an overstatement.

However, Angels fans witnessed the limit of Shohei Ohtani's capabilities after he exited a game last Wednesday. Subsequent tests revealed that the Japanese superstar had torn his UCL, and would be shut down from all pitching activities for the remainder of the 2023 season.

"Shohei Ohtani has a torn UCL and will not pitch again this season, per @JeffFletcherOCR" -FOX Sports MLB

While the news comes as a deathly blow to Los Angeles Angels fans, at least one figure from Ohtani's past may have seen it coming. Shoji Asari coached Ohtani during his days playing with the Little League Mizusawa Pirates as a child.

According to biographers, Asari was one of the first coaches who saw Ohtani's two-way potential. However, Shohei Ohtani's countryman has now publicly stated that he thinks the MLB superstar is pushing himself too hard.

In a recent interview with National Public Radio, Asari was quoted claiming that Ohtani was bound to hurt himself after bringing his two-way style to North America. Asari invoked the legendary Babe Ruth of the 1920s New York Yankees as the last player who could successfully play a two-way game. Asari stated:

"It's up to the kids, but really, it's impossible. Even in America, only Babe Ruth could do it. You'd better not do it. You can get injured."

Up until he exited last Wednesday's game against the Cincinnati Reds, fans would have reason to believe that Ohtani's throwing arm was made of cast iron. Ohtani has posted a 38-19 record to coincide with his 3.01 career ERA, He has also been a workhorse, throwing 431 innings across 86 starts since breaking into the league in 2017.

Asari is not the first to worry about Shohei Ohtani's two-way welfare

Journalist Anthony Kuhn, who conducted the interview with Ohtani, echoes a similar line of thought. In fact, the American journalist pointed to a recently published biography of Ohtani to underpin his point.

In his book "Two Swords Story", Kobayashi believes that the Japanese game, which is all about accuracy and timing, is inconsistent with the American game, which prioritizes power. In the 2022 book, Kobayashi claimed that by prioritizing power, Shohei Ohtani ran the risk of seriously hurting himself.

Between Kobayashi and Asari, it appears as though those closest to the star saw this most unfortunate event coming to pass. Hopefully, it will not lead to any lasting ramifications for Shohei Ohtani.