Oh, so that’s how he spells it.
Before he becomes a full-fledged star with an MLB team to be determined, we need to clarify the spelling of Japan’s Babe Ruth: It’s spelled O-h-t-a-n-i, as in Shohei Ohtani.
There have been plenty of headlines hyping the two-way baseball player who will soon be posted by the Nippon-Ham Fighters this offseason, but most referred to him as Otani. Now, Ohtani’s representatives at CAA have clarified the spelling.
The explanation is simple, according to CAA: That is what Ohtani wears on his jersey in Japan.
Ohtani is translated into English letters from his name in Japanese characters, so there is no letter-for-letter translation.