WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC: QUARTERFINALS - ITALY VS JAPAN

March 16, 2023

Shohei Ohtani

Tokyo Dome

Team Japan

Postgame Press Conference

Japan 9, Italy 3

Q. Two games to go for the World Championship, what's in your mind?

SHOHEI OHTANI: Like today, yes, it's a knock-down game. Winner takes all. So if I pitched, we tried to score more than the opponent. If I pitch, I like to minimize their run, that's it.

Q. Looking back at the WBC, this was your first tournament, you played five games so far. How do you see the differences between WBC games done compared to the usual baseball game?

SHOHEI OHTANI: With the short-term period, I haven't played in this situation for a while, so I had an extra -- I mean, I had a different feeling, extra pressure on it. But our journey is still going on, so yeah, we have to play hard. We have to keep playing hard.

Q. You mentioned getting minimizing the risk and getting a big return. Can you talk about your second at-bat?

SHOHEI OHTANI: Well, during the trainings, I'm not -- no, it's totally different. This is such a short-term tournament, so the approach that I did is different. Maybe if this is a regular season, I might hit -- in a different situation, I might play differently but tonight in that at-bat, I did not have pride to swing hard. But then there's a priority task for me in that at-bat.

Q. After the game started, did you talk -- or you spoke with Mike Piazza and Fletcher. What kind of conversation was it? And also, we hardly never see you talk right after the game with the opponent players. What made that happen?

SHOHEI OHTANI: Yes, before the game started, I was a starter and I didn't have an opportunity to talk with them. But I didn't have a chance, so I just spoke with them after the game. After the WBC, he is going to be my teammate, and the reason why I did this is just as one of my memories of the tournament.

Q. Tonight, Okamoto and Murakami had extra base hits. Looking back at the top of the fifth, man on first and third, the leadoff guy hit fly ball to center field, that's a very fundamental play that Team Japan did. How did you evaluate Team Japan, the way Team Japan played?

SHOHEI OHTANI: For the defense, I am not the one to talk with or to explain. I'm not a defensive guy. I just trust my defensive coach. And not only Nootbaar, Maki did a tremendous play. That play helped me a lot in tonight's game, and Team Japan's offense, they did a special work and they were keen to make an out. They are such good defensive players as well.

Q. You mentioned from yesterday, you faced against Fletcher, your original teammate. How did you feel against Fletcher?

SHOHEI OHTANI: Yes, not only Fletch but as a lineup, they are so smart and when I face against them, they play baseball not only physically but with a brain. They swing with their brain. They are such smart players.

At the end, there's a large margin, but until the middle of the game, yes, I felt a lot that they are such smart baseball players.

Q. You've played with Hideki Kuriyama for a long time. How do you think you have grown as a person and a player since you played in Japan and has your relationship with him changed now that you're older?

SHOHEI OHTANI: Well, yes. This is such a special moment for me, even to me, representing Team Japan, and he managed me as a national team manager. My first impression with Kuriyamasan is my high school, he was a reporter and I had an interview and we had a relationship in between.

When I played for Kuriyamasan for the Fighters, I learned a lot through Kuriyamasan. Yes, he is someone who taught me how to play well, and yes, that's the things I felt for Kuriyamasan.

Q. Your velocity, 164 kilometers, that's the fastest and it's only the middle of March. Previously you mentioned that flying to the U.S., there's always the time differences and the jet lag bothered you always you said. That was my two questions.

SHOHEI OHTANI: Yes, that moment, I throw 140 fastball 164, I see the reaction of the hitters and I thought he was sitting on my off-speed pitch. That's why I throw hard.

For the jet lag things, yes, as a matter of fact, I'm flying from now on. I have to manage when I sleep, how long I sleep, and day one is the most important thing than any day.

So yeah, that's how I manage.