The document that changed Ohtani's mind: 26 pages or 30, written in 10 days or 3, depending on who tells it

Nippon-Ham drafted Shohei Ohtani on Oct. 25, 2012, against his stated wishes. Then it had to talk him out of the plan. The person behind that argument was the scouting director Takashi Ohbuchi, and the tool was a written document. Its Japanese title translates roughly as "Shohei Ohtani: A Guide to His Dream," with a subtitle about young athletes in Japanese sports going overseas.

According to Bungeishunju in 2021, the document compared the American minor league system with player development in Japan, noted the low success rate of Korean high school players who signed directly with U.S. teams, and listed Japanese major leaguers who had first established themselves at home. Ohtani did not come to the first formal meeting. Ohbuchi gave the document to his parents, explained it with a projector, and then briefed the media. Public opinion, the piece says, shifted from criticism of the pick to a sense that the Fighters might be a reasonable path.

The details depend on the account. In February 2013, Weekly Gendai published Ohbuchi's own description: 26 pages, put together over about 10 days at family restaurants. He also said he gave Ohtani a list of more than 50 U.S. first-round picks and what had happened to them a few years later, and summed up Ohtani's wishes in three points: to excel at the top level, to have a long career, and to be a pioneer. The 2021 Bungeishunju piece says about 30 pages written in about three days. A Number item from 2018 also says about 30 pages. The argument is the same in every version. The page count and the timeline are not.

Weekly Gendai counted six meetings in all, with the fourth on Nov. 17. Kuriyama joined the later ones. A few days after the sixth, Ohbuchi was asked to come back, and Ohtani told him he would join the club. The two-way plan Kuriyama brought to those meetings is the next part of this series.