WATCH: MLB analyst Ben Verlander discovers fascinating Shohei Ohtani story during trip to Japan

Every hero has an origin story and Shohei Ohtani is no different. The reigning American League MVP grew up in Hanamaki; a quiet town in Japan’s Iwate prefecture.

MLB analyst Ben Verlander is currently in Japan exploring Ohtani’s roots and experiencing the country’s vibrant culture.

After reaching Hanamaki, Verlander visited the Mizusawa Little League field, which is where Ohtani learned to play the game as a child.

The field is nested between two highways, a river, and a mineral field. Now, this is where Ohtani’s origin story gets super interesting.

“Shohei Ohtani used to hit balls into the river and his coach said, “Hey, Shohei, I need you to stop hitting balls this way. We keep losing them and we can't afford all these new baseballs we're having to get.” So Shohei learned to hit balls from here, over to here, in left centerfield. And now Shohei all the time hits balls to the opposite field and this field, right here, is where it all began!” - Ben Verlander

As Ohtani developed more power, he hit balls over the right-field fence and into the river on a regular basis. After enough balls were lost in this manner, Ohtani’s coach had to intervene.

He pointed out the financial toll of the prodigy’s extraordinary talent since they couldn’t afford to keep losing more baseballs.

As a result, Ohtani learned to hit towards left field consistently instead of going right. That turned out to be the foundation of his phenomenal ability to hit in any direction in the majors.

Ben Verlander paid a visit to Shohei Ohtani's high school

Verlander also stopped by at Ohtani’s alma mater, Hanamaki Higashi High School. The school campus has a 12,000 capacity stadium that gives away minor league vibes, according to Verlander.

Over the right-field fence lies a patch of grass, beyond which there’s another fence and then a line of trees. Now, you can imagine the distance between the home plate and the trees.

According to one of his former high school teammates, Ohtani once hit a ball over those trees. It would have been difficult to believe had it been any other player, but it’s Shohei Ohtani we are talking about. So anything is possible.

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