Life looks different for Ohtani. But his on-field dominance remains
Shohei Ohtani had never played at Nationals Park before this week, when he and his Dodger blue entourage swept into Washington. No team in baseball travels quite like they do, with the extra security and dozen reporters and the pop-up banners the public relations team stands up for the cameras whenever Ohtani speaks. None of this surprised the Dodgers, of course. And relentless scrutiny isn’t new for Ohtani, either.
But the Ohtani that arrived at Nationals Park this week was different from the man who arrived in the United States in 2017, who toiled with the Los Angeles Angels for six years. He is different, even, from the person who signed the largest contract in North American sports history to join the Los Angeles Dodgers a few months ago.
This version of Ohtani is a month removed from the biggest read, only - scandal of his professional career, a few weeks removed from learning that his longtime friend and former interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, was charged with bank fraud, accused stealing more than $16 million from the Dodgers star to pay off gambling debts.
This version of Ohtani, once peppered with questions about his health or where he would go in free agency, is suddenly being asked about his feelings and his personal life, about friendship and betrayal and all the things Ohtani has previously kept decidedly out of sight.
The Dodgers and their manager, Dave Roberts, say Mizuhara’s departure has given them a clearer understanding of their star. If anything was lost in translation when
Ohtani’s best friend was also his only line of communication, they say, they are hearing things straight from Ohtani now. But maybe that is just the spin required to paper over a painful situation that thrust the most impenetrable man in the sport into sudden vulnerability. Ohtani, careful as always, would not say much this week about how his baseball life is different without the only interpreter he has ever known.
“The new interpreter is probably pretty good,” Ohtani said with a smile, as that new interpreter, Will Ireton, translated for him. But his deflection was only partially effective, because a reporter then asked him again about the emotional implications of Mizuhara’s alleged betrayal.
“The investigation is still going on so I can’t really say much about that, but it made me realize how supportive the teammates, the organization, the staff has been toward me. It has made me really reflect on how grateful I am to be surrounded by them,” he said. But when asked which teammates he has leaned on in the last few weeks, he shut the doors on candor once again.
“I do want to avoid mentioning specific names. Obviously, I don’t mind the teams mentioning that,” Ohtani said. “Right now, it’s the middle of the regular season, and I don’t want to create some type of distraction.”
It is a testament to Ohtani’s stardom that naming friends would qualify as distracting, but he knows how all this works. If he names a friend, reporters will follow that player, asking questions, hunting for details about Ohtani he will not share about himself. He is goodnatured in his deflections, even politely dodged and deflected as Japanese reporters asked him about his wife. (Ohtani revealed the couple had wed earlier this year by posting an announcement on Instagram.) Is she with him right now? She isn’t. Does he miss her? Most baseball players go entire careers without being asked questions like those.
Most baseball players also go entire careers without hitting a home run 118 miles per hour like Ohtani did Tuesday night. But moments like that help Ohtani push the spotlight back where he wants it, back to the field and to baseball and the marvels only he can provide. And even this year, when he cannot stir awe by pitching and hitting, he has managed to do it just by hitting instead. He has hit the ball so hard, so consistently, that even his manager, a former teammate of Barry Bonds, said he has never seen anything quite like it. His average exit velocity is 95.1, second-best in the National League, entering Friday’s games. His hardest hit ball - that 118.7 mph homer - is two full miles per hour harder than the next-closest candidate. Ohtani always swung hard, but seems to be swinging with abandon this year, with a coil and explosion that often results in his helmet flying off and a gasp from both the crowd and his own dugout.
“I mean, I just, I don’t see, I can’t imagine a player hitting it that often, that hard, consistently. That’s what’s remarkable to me,” Roberts said. “Even in years past, I would see him get some infield hits. But everything he hits, it seems like it’s 110 off the bat, versus left [-handed pitching], versus right [-handed pitching]. Where he is now, to where he was a year ago, it’s remarkable.”
Roberts was referring to the fact that it was just last year when Ohtani injured his elbow and required surgery, but in many ways, the 29-yearold is in a vastly different place now than he has ever been. He is on a starstudded roster that is expected to compete in October, hitting second between two of the greatest hitters in the sport - one of many who can carry his team, instead of the one constantly expected to do so. He is the highest-paid athlete in professional sports history, and his global notoriety has somehow grown as a result. And he is vulnerable now, at least off the field. Somehow, he has yet to look vulnerable on it.
Because for all that has changed for Ohtani, his on-field dominance has not waned. Ohtani was always one of the better power hitters in baseball. Forced to focus entirely on hitting by that elbow injury, he is proving himself as one of the league’s more well-rounded offensive players, with MLB’s third-highest average, entering Friday, as well as endless power. Yes, this version of Ohtani is different. And this version, in this lineup, might be even better.