The subject of Shohei Ohtani is on everyone's lips in Los Angeles at the moment. For what? Because… you know it, at this point.
With the training camp that started yesterday for the Dodgers, a club that will play in Asia to start its season, the name of Shohei Ohtani is obviously on everyone's lips.
His teammates are impressed by the way he works and by the modesty he displays despite his star status.
He's already impressing… and imagine what it will look like when he's comfortable in his new environment and has time to just strike…
But is everything positive? Not necessarily, no. After all, the player comes with visibility in front of the media which is pretty crazy… but he doesn't talk to them much.
In Anaheim, he only spoke on the days he pitched. And at the end of the season, when he was too injured to pitch, he didn't speak at all.
This angered some journalists.
In fact, since learning he was done pitching in the summer of 2023, he has spoken to the media three times: when he signed in Los Angeles and twice this week.
He didn't even speak when he won the MVP because “his internet connection was playing tricks on him” at the time. Yeah, right.
The problem? If the media comes to see him, they will want to talk to him. And if they don't speak Japanese, they'll speak to other guys.
These guys will therefore know that they will (often) be talked to about Ohtani if they fail to talk to the main person concerned. Could this create friction? Maybe one day, yes.
Ken Rosenthal addressed this subject recently.
Dave Roberts spoke about this reality, precisely. What he says is that he understands because he once played with Barry Bonds, who didn't talk to the media often.
And he was the one who had more questions, regularly volunteering to chat.
The Dodgers manager knows it will take a guy to take on that role. He nominated Jason Heyward to take more in front of the cameras.
Asked about his manager's comments, he said that “Shohei was the right guy to talk about Shohei” and that it will only be difficult if journalists make it difficult.
By decoding everything, we can see that Heyward does not necessarily want to play this role. He might do it without complaining, but…
But Ohtani is better at producing, let's say. Otherwise, it will become a source of internal dispute.
