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The story
On November 13, 2026, SoftBank Hawks chairman Sadaharu Oh and Hideki Kuriyama — who led Japan to the title at the 2023 World Baseball Classic — held a press conference at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan in Marunouchi, Tokyo. Asked about Shohei Ohtani’s slump, Oh reportedly touched on the difficulty of continuing as a two-way (“nito-ryu”) player and suggested the option of focusing on hitting alone. On 5ch, opinions split: some saw the remark as understandable given that Ohtani had been unable to pitch since early July and spent about three months as a DH-only player this season, while others pushed back, calling it condescending and arguing that “Ohtani has already surpassed Oh.”
Shohei Ohtani “Maybe focus on hitting alone” — Sadaharu Oh’s bold suggestion; Hideki Kuriyama laughs awkwardly: “Hard to argue when the chairman puts it that way”
SoftBank Hawks chairman Sadaharu Oh (86) and Hideki Kuriyama (65), who led Japan’s national team to the title at the 2023 World Baseball Classic (WBC), held a press conference on November 13, 2026, at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan in Marunouchi, Tokyo.
When asked about the slump of Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani (32) of MLB, Oh pointed out the difficulty of continuing to pitch and hit as a “two-way” player.
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
Ohtani's already surpassed Oh anyway.
Classic Oh.
Baseball's done for then — the whole industry was riding on one star.
Wanted to see Ohtani-san out there running wild.
Give it another two years of two-way ball, and if it's not working out, then make the call.
He'll probably shut the pitching down next year to build toward the year after.
What he's been doing all along has been seriously reckless.
Pitchers don't draw the same popularity.
Just look at how Japanese MLB pitchers get treated — same story over in the US.
He can make that call once he's in his late 30s.
Baseball's in for rough times ahead.
DH-only Ohtani just won't deliver enough highlight material.
He only shows up four times a day to swing a bat.
He can't play defense anymore at this point either — game over lol
Honestly, an Ohtani who doesn't pitch is just boring.
Ohtani's amazing, but Kuriyama's amazing too.
Forget "next time" — he hasn't even made it back as a pitcher yet.
Background and key points of debate
Oh’s comment appears to reflect the fact that Ohtani hasn’t pitched since early July this season and spent roughly the following three months focused solely on hitting. With the outlook for a pitching return — including the state of his elbow — still unclear, the “hitting only” suggestion should be read not as one-sided criticism but as practical advice from someone with firsthand experience. The thread’s split boils down to a single point: whether to take the suggestion as “a veteran’s warning about injury risk,” or to push back against an elder weighing in, on the grounds that “by the numbers, Ohtani has already surpassed Oh’s records.” Some in the thread also noted that the Ohtani topic may have just been a setup to get to the real subject — Kuriyama’s own thoughts on baseball — a nuance the headline alone doesn’t convey.
*This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (Geinou/Sports News+) thread “[Baseball] Sadaharu Oh advises Shohei Ohtani on his two-way career: “Maybe focus on hitting alone” — “Expecting him to be as amazing as before just isn’t realistic”.”
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