AAPI Month: Ohtani on Kaizen Baseball, playing all positions, merging leagues and recognizing Oh

In highlighting the contributions of the community during Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, Shohei Ohtani shared his underlying philosophy on his baseball success.

Kaizen Baseball is what Ohtani attributes much of his success to. Kaizen, a Japanese term related to continuous improvement (link) has been adopted by many practitioners in some related form such as Six Sigma or Lean Manufacturing. From Kaizen Plumbing, a small family-owned business to multinational corporations such as Motorola Solutions, Kaizen principles have transformed organizations for the better.

In Ohtani’s case, he is breaking records for the Los Angeles Angels both on the mound as a pitcher and at the plate as a hitter. “I am inspired by Ferrell Takes the Field (link) to play every single position during a game,” Ohtani proclaimed. “However, instead of playing only nine positions, I aim to improve upon that feat by playing all 10 positions, including DH.”

Wanting to add to his legacy, Ohtani added, “As we demonstrated by winning the World Baseball Classic, the Nippon Professional Baseball Organization has some of the best talent in the world. There is no reason why MLB and NPB should not merge into a world super league. European Football leagues have shown that national leagues and continental leagues can attract a wider fan base globally, raise the level of skill and give current fans more content to consume online and in person at the games.”

Lastly, as an homage to his heritage, Ohtani urged baseball fans to recognize Sadaharu Oh as the true Home Run King, who amassed 868 home runs in his lifetime. Oh had appeared on network television over 40 years ago on The Baseball Bunch (link) but is still yet to be a household baseball name.

Editor’s Note: There is no relation between the NPB all-time homerun leader and the Media Pub Live writer, Robert Oh.