Shohei Ohtani (29, LA Angels), a “baseball genius” who doubles as a pitcher in the Major League (MLB), finally joined “Samurai Japan.”
Japanese media such as Sports Nippon and Daily Sports said on the 2nd, “Otani left Arizona, the United States, where his team’s spring camp was held on the 1st, and arrived at Haneda Airport in Tokyo, Japan by charter flight.” Ohtani got off the plane at around 10pm and exited the airport through the VIP arrivals hall without comment.
According to Daily Sports, 20 TV cameras, 70 reporters, and hundreds of baseball fans remained at the airport until late that day and waited for Ohtani. It is rumored that a helicopter for reporting appeared to capture the scene of Ohtani’s arrival, and police and security guards were also deployed to control the safety of reporters and fans.
Sports Nippon said, “The cost of boarding the charter plane used by Ohtani is at least 10 million yen (approximately 100 million won) per one-way basis. More than 20,000 fans have accessed the flight tracking application ‘Flight Radar’ to check Ohtani’s flight route.” told
After Ohtani joined the Nippon Ham Fighters in 2013, he dominated Japanese professional baseball for five years and became the best pitcher in the league. Using that performance as a stepping stone, he entered the MLB in 2018, and soon after, he achieved great success as both a pitcher and a hitter, causing the ‘Otani Syndrome’ around the world카지노. He was even named the American League (AL) Most Valuable Player in 2021.
After the end of last season, Ohtani announced his participation in the World Baseball Classic (WBC) early and strengthened the Japanese national team. Even in the demonstration game before joining the national team, expectations were raised by pitching without a loss with a fastball of 158 km per hour and hitting a super-large triple. Now in WBC mode, Ohtani will participate in the Japan National Team’s official training session at the Nagoya Dome on the 2nd, where he will work with his fellow wrestlers for the first time.
In addition to Ohtani, a total of four active MLB players, including Yu Darvish (San Diego Padres), Masataka Yoshida (Boston Red Sox), and Las Nuba (St. Louis Cardinals), will participate in the WBC as part of the Japanese national team. Darvish had been training with the national team early on, and Nutba arrived in Japan on the same day as Ohtani. Yoshida will enter the country on the 3rd.
Another big leaguer, Seiya Suzuki (Chicago Cubs), who was selected with them, injured his side during an MLB exhibition game and gave up the WBC. Japan selected Daisei Makihara (Softbank Hawks) as a substitute player.