Shohei Ohtani announced on his Instagram page Thursday that he will be donating 60,000 youth baseball gloves to elementary schools in his native Japan.

"I’m hoping the kids can spend their days happily with a lot of energy through baseball," Ohtani wrote. "I’ll be looking forward to sharing the field one day with someone that grew up using this glove!"

New Balance, who signed Ohtani to a "long-term" partnership deal in January, will be providing the gloves.

Ohtani, a native of Ōshū, Japan, began his professional baseball career with the Nippon-Ham Fighters of Nippon Professional Baseball in 2013 at age 18. He played five seasons there before signing with the Los Angeles Angels in December of 2017.

Currently the most-sought after free agent on the market this offseason, Ohtani was named a finalist for the 2023 American League MVP award. He won the award in 2021 after a season that saw him post 46 home runs and 100 runs batted in.