Ohtani still a mystery
Angels player hasn’t had a great spring
PARADISE VALLEY, Ariz. – The dozens of reporters who stake out the Angels parking lot each morning, awaiting Shohei Ohtani’s arrival, staring at him while he dresses, dissecting every movement on the field and asking him to evaluate his performance each game, aren’t around this evening.
It’s a promotional event, set up by an autograph trading card company, Panini America, which holds his rights in that space. If you want to talk to Ohtani, provided a rare one-onone interview, you have 15 minutes to ask your questions.
Now, granted a limited peek, you find out he has no hobby except for those occasional golf outings with teammate Blake Wood where, on a good day, he might shoot 100. He loved meeting teammates Mike Trout and Albert Pujols, but his lifelong idol is Ichiro Suzuki. He would treasure the experience of facing him, and even bat against him, if Suzuki is serious about taking the mound.
The worst moment of camp was when Trout, pitcher Andrew Heaney and Ohtani lost to his interpreter, trainer and staff member in a 3-on-3 pickup basketball game. His favorite evening? A night golfing event set up by Trout.
And he couldn’t understand why most of the morning meetings resembled a stand-up comedy show led by manager Mike Scioscia, and now he gets the humor and finds them hysterically funny.
That’s it. He doesn’t share why he picked the Angels over his other six finalists. He won’t detail his decision to forgo a potential $200 million package by waiting two more years in Japan instead of playing for the minimum $545,000 this season. And forget any idea he’ll disclose anything about his personal life.
Ohtani arrived seven weeks ago as baseball’s greatest mystery, a 23-year-old Japanese player trying to become the first player since Babe Ruth in 1919 to be a starting pitcher and an everyday player.
He’ll leave spring training camp this weekend shrouded in the same mystery, with rival teams and scouts doubting whether he can handle either one, predicting his spring training struggles will leave him in the minors to open the season.
Ohtani does not speak English and barely understands a few words, but as he listens to the scathing criticism, he breaks into a grin, nods his head and in Japanese would love to shout out to the world: Mattari Suru Hito.
Loose translation: “Chill out, people.”
Well, we have a secret for you: Ohtani isn’t going anywhere.
Ohtani will be on the opening-day roster, two high-ranking Angels executives told USA TODAY on the condition of anonymity since no roster deci- sions need to be revealed until March 29. He’s tentatively scheduled to pitch their third game, March 31, against the Athletics at Oakland Coliseum. He also is scheduled to be in their opening-day lineup as their starting DH.
Ohtani’s roster spot will come in spite of his unsightly
16.20 ERA in two spring training games, an exhibition against the Tijuana Toros and one minor league game, yielding 15 earned runs and 18 hits in
81⁄ innings. He has been worse
3 at the plate, hitting .107 with three singles in 28 at-bats, snapping a 0-for-14 skid Tuesday with a single to left field.
“He understands,” Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s interpreter, tells USA TODAY. “He realizes how much attention he’s getting. That’s why they’re looking at the spring training stats. But it doesn’t bother him. He’s going to keep doing the same thing. Really, it is not bothering him.”
“He’s not panicking, not at all,” Angels general manager Billy Eppler says. “From a GM or a manager standpoint, that’s comforting. When your players are calm, you’re calm, too.”
Says Angels hitting coach Eric Hinske, “I know the results aren’t there, and his timing is off, but the kid is super positive. He hasn’t lost any of that swag. Once the lights turn and the third deck shows up, he should show what he’s all about.”
Pitching coach Charles Nagy says, “He’s healthy, the ball is coming out of his hand just fine, and he hasn’t missed a turn. Look, I never had the best spring training either. ... But I knew I’d be ready when the season starts, just like Shohei will.”
Still, the Angels aren’t going to lie to you, there is concern. They see the long, slow swing with his hands high in the air, power pitchers who are dominating him and those unsettling him with inside fastballs. They see the inconsistency of his breaking pitches while on the mound, noticing that when he gets into trouble he tends to throw softer than harder as if he questions his arsenal.
As they remind themselves each morning in their staff meetings, it is only spring training. It’s the same spring training where 17 years ago Suzuki was a struggling rookie hearing the same scouting criticism and Mariners manager Lou Piniella questioning whether he would ever hit.
Now, rival scouts are questioning Ohtani’s ability, wondering whether the Babe Ruth of Japan will become the Ryan Leaf of baseball, an all-time flop.
The Angels still believe, saying they will back their own words with actions. There is zero talk of telling Ohtani, 6-4, 204 pounds, the workload will be too much, forcing him to strictly focus on pitching and give up hitting.
“You don’t recruit the No. 1 quarterback in the United States to go play at the University of Alabama,” Eppler says, “and then have him show up and say, ‘ Yeah, you’re working with the defense now.’ You just don’t do that. ...
“Just like with any player, you give them the opportunity before addressing something.”
The world will be watching. His first appearance against Suzuki — the earliest showdown could be May 4-6 in Seattle — will be a global broadcast event.
“I’m looking forward to it,” Ohtani said, “but I still need to make the team and earn my playing time. If one day I’m able to be on the same field as him, that will make me very happy. Someone my age, 23, facing Ichiro, that would be a great experience.”
And if Ohtani lives up to the hype, the Angels will suddenly possess a multinational star along with the greatest player on the planet.
“It’s going to be a pretty crazy year for sure,” says Trout, the two-time MVP. “He just gives off these great vibes. I know it’s going to be tough on him doing both things, but I think he’s going to wow us. Really, I think he’ll wow everyone.”
The warm-up act might have been tough on the ears and the eyes, but in a week Shohei Time starts for real.
“This is everything I always wanted,” Ohtani says. “Hopefully I can make people happy.”