{"id":617928,"date":"2026-03-11T05:10:24","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T05:10:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/617928\/"},"modified":"2026-03-11T05:10:24","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T05:10:24","slug":"harvard-figured-out-shohei-ohtanis-secret-to-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/617928\/","title":{"rendered":"Harvard Figured Out Shohei Ohtani\u2019s Secret to Success"},"content":{"rendered":"

Los Angeles Dodgers<\/a> star Shohei Ohtani<\/a> is consistently breaking records and reimagining what a baseball player can do on the field.<\/p>\n

In modern baseball, players are seldom developed to be well-rounded. Instead, coaches and management focus on specializing players based on their skill sets.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

This specialization may include being effective against certain-handed pitchers, adopting either a contact or power hitting approach, or focusing on playing specific positions in the outfield or infield.<\/p>\n

Ohtani, however, has bucked those trends, remaining stubbornly committed to being a starting pitcher with a deep arsenal of pitches, all while being a complete hitter with a good eye and the ability to stay in the lineup no matter the pitching matchup.<\/p>\n

\"Feb<\/p>\n

Feb 21, 2026; Tempe, Arizona, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani against the Los Angeles Angels during a spring training game at Tempe Diablo Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Considering how special Ohtani is, even when looking throughout history, the question of how he came to be the all-imposing unicorn has lingered.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

The Japanese sensation is a reserved character, tending to avoid the media and never quite opening up much about his life.<\/p>\n

However, by researching his childhood, Frances X. Frei \u2014 a professor at Harvard Business School \u2014 found that the Harada Method, created by Takashi Harada, helped Ohtani develop the mental focus and planning that made him the player he is.<\/p>\n

The Harada Method is taught in high school and centers on setting goals and tracking both daily and year-over-year progress.<\/p>\n

What is the Harada Method?<\/p>\n

In a conversation with the Harvard Gazette, Frei laid out what the planning method entails and how Ohtani built his plan.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

\u201cYou come up with a multiyear ambition, so really dare to dream. And then, the first step of the chart is, \u2018What are the set of things that if I concentrated on this year, I\u2019d make meaningful progress on my multiyear ambition?\u2019 You have one thing in the center: my multiyear ambition. For him, it was \u2018be the No. 1 draft pick\u2019 four years later,\u201d Frei said to the Harvard Gazette.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then, what are the eight things that if I did this year, I would make progress on my ambition? He had \u2018physical conditioning\u2019 and \u2018mental strength\u2019 and then four pitching things \u2014 \u2018control,\u2019 \u2018sharpness,\u2019 \u2018speed,\u2019 and \u2018trickery.\u2019 He had \u201ccharacter\u201d and \u2018karma\u2019 for No. 7 and No. 8.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen the method asks you to do that one thing surrounded by eight, do it again, one more time. So, each of the eight yearly goals \u2014 physical conditioning, mental strength, character, karma, etc. \u2014 bring those out and surrounds them by the eight things I have to do on a daily basis to achieve that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ohtani\u2019s Harada Method<\/p>\n

Ohtani\u2019s personal Harada Method developed the traits he now shows on the world stage, built around a humble approach and hard work.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s the No. 1 ambition, and then there are eight things surrounding it. Four of them having to do with pitching all the way down to the detailed behavior, the body, the mental,\u201d Frei explained.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2019Cool head, hot heart\u2019 was one of them. I have since learned it is common Japanese vernacular. I didn\u2019t know it at the time, but that one really struck me. But it was \u2018character\u2019 and \u2018karma\u2019 that just weakened my knees. And indeed, I encourage everyone who uses this method to include character and karma regardless of if you want to be a pitcher or not.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2019Pick up the trash\u2019 \u2014 that one really spoke to me; \u2018clean room\u2019 because that\u2019s private. Nobody else is going to see that. \u2018Respect towards umpires.\u2019 He is known as the most respectful player. He does a greeting to the umpires at every single at-bat. The one that I really wish I had learned a lot earlier was \u2018be a person that people root for.’\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf he only had the four pitching things, I don\u2019t think he would be as successful. I think it takes all of us, every ounce of us, to give ourselves the best position to achieve greatness. I don\u2019t want to call it an insurance policy, but it\u2019s not a bad word for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

The Harada Method alone did not make Ohtani the exceptional player he is today. Numerous factors, including execution, support, coaching, and many others, all contributed to his success.<\/p>\n

However, it is evident that the way his goals were established helped him visualize his success and create a clear path forward, resulting in remarkable achievements.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani is consistently breaking records and reimagining what a baseball player can do…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":617929,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2390],"tags":[291,145,5,4890,10208,79865,1165,446,3223,774,56,57,3224,3222,4,468,79866],"class_list":{"0":"post-617928","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-angels","8":"tag-angels","9":"tag-arsenal","10":"tag-baseball","11":"tag-baseball-player","12":"tag-character","13":"tag-harada-method","14":"tag-la","15":"tag-la-angels","16":"tag-laangels","17":"tag-los-angeles","18":"tag-los-angeles-angels","19":"tag-los-angeles-dodgers","20":"tag-losangeles","21":"tag-losangelesangels","22":"tag-mlb","23":"tag-shohei-ohtani","24":"tag-takashi-harada"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116208824225997623","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617928","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=617928"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617928\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/617929"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=617928"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=617928"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=617928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}