LOS ANGELES—Explaining that he didn’t quite understand it but was humbled by the support, Los Angeles Angels pitcher–designated hitter Shohei Ohtani told reporters Monday that he was recently surprised to learn he was massively popular in Japan. “Yeah, apparently I’m huge over in Japan—it’s kind of random, I know, but it’s just cool knowing you have this huge fan base in a different country,” said Ohtani, adding that he had recently learned from a fan letter that he’d been popular among Japanese baseball fans for at least a couple years. “I guess a lot of kids make a point of watching all the games that I pitch, and even have posters of me in their bedrooms. It’s obviously not what you’d expect as a player playing in America, but baseball is definitely an international game, and if I can inspire some kids in an amazing country like Japan to get into baseball, then that’s great.” Ohtani added that he hoped to travel to Japan to meet his fans there someday.
Comments are closed.