Ohtani’s huge impact on baseball far-reaching

They cheered their own — hometown ovations for Colorado Rockies manager Bud Black and shortstop

Trevor Story ,anda raucous welcome back to former Rockies star

Nolan Arenado, writes

Jack Harris of the L.A. Times.

They booed players from the Yankees and Dodgers, jeering even Chris Taylor for his place on an evil big-market team.

For almost every other player introduced at the start of Tuesday’s MLB All-Star Game, however, the crowd reception was routine.

For only one other player did the 49,184 inside Coors Field make an exception, roaring to life at the announcement of one more specific name.

“Leading off,” Fox broadcaster Joe Buck announced over the stadium public-address system, “the designated hitter, and starting pitcher: Shohei Ohtani!”

Suddenly, as the Angels’ two-way star flashed across the video board, warming up in the bullpen in preparation for his first ASG appearance, a jam-packed ballpark went nuts.

If ever there was a doubt about Ohtani’s place, popularity and impact within the sport, this week’s festivities had delivered one more moment putting them to rest.

Over the first half of this season, Ohtani has become one of the biggest attractions in baseball. And this week, he looked like a natural in the role, calmly and confidently saying and doing all the right things.

He participated in Monday’s home run derby, exhausting himself in an epic firstround defeat to Juan Soto. He walked the “Purple Carpet” before Tuesday’s game and made TV appearance after TV appearance leading up to first pitch.

The first player in MLB history to be selected to an All-Star Game as a pitcher and hitter, he did both in the midsummer classic, too, grounding out twice as the American League’s starting designated hitter and pitching a perfect first inning as the team’s starting pitcher, hitting 100 mph in a game for the first time in three months.

He called it the “most memorable” moment of his MLB career so far — “obviously I’ve never played in the playoffs yet, or World Series,” he noted, adding “once I do that, that’s probably going to surpass it” — and said he even got nervous being around so many other greats in the sport.

“Before I talked to them, they were kind of intimidating,” Ohtani said through his interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara. “But once I got to talk to them, everyone was all great.”