Shohei Ohtani

Shohei Ohtani has been married to Mamiko Tanaka since February 2024. Tanaka is a former professional Japanese basketball player who played for the Fujitsu Red Wave from 2019 through 2023.

The couple welcomed a daughter in April 2025. Ohtani confirmed his marriage in a February 2024 Instagram post and appeared publicly with Tanaka at a Dodgers charity gala later that year.

Ohtani began playing organized baseball in Japan and became one of the country's hardest-throwing high-school pitchers. At age 17, he threw a 99.4-mph pitch for Hanamaki Higashi High School. Although he initially wanted to move directly to MLB, the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters selected him first overall in the 2012 Nippon Professional Baseball draft and promised that he could develop as both a hitter and a pitcher.

Ohtani improved rapidly with the Fighters. He led the Pacific League in ERA in 2015 and won the Pacific League Most Valuable Player award in 2016, when he helped the team win the Pacific League championship and Japan Series. He signed with the Los Angeles Angels in December 2017 and made his MLB debut in 2018, winning American League Rookie of the Year after hitting 22 home runs and posting a 4-2 record as a pitcher.

After elbow surgery limited his pitching and injuries disrupted subsequent seasons, Ohtani produced one of baseball's most distinctive campaigns in 2021. He hit 46 home runs, stole 26 bases, went 9-2 as a pitcher and recorded 156 strikeouts. He became the first MLB player selected as an All-Star both as a pitcher and as a position player, then won the American League MVP award unanimously.

Ohtani followed with another elite season in 2022, becoming the only player in MLB history to record at least 10 pitching wins and 30 home runs in the same season. In 2023, he led the American League with 44 home runs and won his second unanimous American League MVP award. He also became the first Japanese-born MLB player to hit for the cycle, accomplishing the feat with the Angels in 2019.

Ohtani joined the Los Angeles Dodgers after the 2023 season. He did not pitch in 2024 while recovering from elbow surgery, but he focused on hitting and base running. On September 19, 2024, he became the first player in MLB history to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases in one regular season. He finished with 54 home runs, 59 stolen bases and 130 RBIs, won the National League MVP award unanimously and helped the Dodgers win the World Series.

Ohtani returned to the mound in 2025 while continuing to produce as a hitter. He won the National League Championship Series MVP award after hitting three home runs and pitching six scoreless innings with 10 strikeouts in Game 4 against the Milwaukee Brewers. He helped the Dodgers win a second consecutive World Series and received another unanimous National League MVP award.

Ohtani represented Japan at several levels, beginning with the country's under-18 team at the 2012 Baseball World Championship. He later won a bronze medal with Japan at the 2015 WBSC Premier12 tournament.

His defining international performance came at the 2023 World Baseball Classic. Ohtani went 2-0 as a pitcher, posted a 1.86 ERA and was named tournament MVP after helping Japan win the championship. In the final against the United States, he struck out his Angels teammate Mike Trout for the deciding out.