Why is Shohei Ohtani wearing No. 16 in the Classic? 

When Shohei Ohtani takes the sphere for Samurai Japan, you is perhaps stunned by the quantity on his again. The international celebrity is thought by his iconic No. 17 on the Angels. But with Team Japan, he is dropped down one digit.

“I’m not overly concerned about what number I’m putting on,” Ohtani stated in a press convention earlier this month. “But I’ve always had a number of 16 when playing for Team Japan.”

Yes, the reply is fairly easy: When Ohtani has suited up for his nation, he has worn No. 16. So, the slugger and ace has merely chosen to stick with it.

But there may very well be a bit of extra to it, as effectively. In the Nineteen Sixties, the Yomiuri Giants started issuing its ace pitchers the No. 18. Since then, it is turn out to be a pattern that is intently adopted by many Japanese pitchers. Daisuke Matsuzaka wore No. 18 with the Red Sox, Hiroki Kuroda wore it all through his profession, and Kenta Maeda even had that uniform quantity stipulated in his contract.

Mitch Garver needed to swap numbers, so Maeda might have it:

“Hey, if it means he’s going to pitch like an ace, I’ll give him a lot more than that,” Garver joked on the time.

Masahiro Tanaka did not put on No. 18 with the Yankees — he selected No. 19 as a substitute — however wore 18 in Japan.

As for Japan’s present No. 18? It’s back-to-back Sawamura Award-winner (the Japanese model of the Cy Young), Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Perhaps Yu Darvish has seniority over him, however has at all times worn No. 11, letting the longer term star of Team Japan put on the quantity.

So, as for Ohtani, it is seemingly a bit of little bit of custom and a bit of little bit of random luck of the draw: It actually does not seem to be a coincidence that he at all times wears a quantity so near the standard ace’s.