A little over a year ago, Nov. 11, 2017, to be exact, Shohei Ohtani strode into a room full of journalists at the Japan National Press Club and told the world he was ready to head to MLB and hoped to one day become the best baseball player in the world.
The Los Angeles Angels star was back in that same room Thursday morning — facing 312 writers, 31 television cameras and 30 photographers — to reflect on a whirlwind rookie season in MLB that ended with him as the 2018 American League Rookie of the Year.
"When I came here a year ago, I was determined to perform as well as I could," Ohtani said. "It's been one year since then and I think I was able to have a satisfactory and enjoyable season. After the season, I felt it was a good year and I have a lot of things to build upon for next year."