Theories abound about where Angels star Shohei Ohtani will play next season, but his purposeful enigmatic relationship with the media provides few answers.
Arte Moreno has a long to-do list and not much time to convince the Angels fan base that he is the right owner for one of this market’s crown-jewel franchises.The speculation isn’t entirely unfounded, each of these premises backed by an anecdote or two passed along by people in his orbit.
Ohtani is an enigma by design, most of his interactions with the media unfolding the way his news conference did at the Angels’ spring training complex Thursday when he spoke for the first time this camp. The first Japanese tennis player to win a singles event on the ATP Tour, the now-55-year-old Matsuoka was at Tempe Diablo Stadium’s backfields as a reporter for TV Asahi. Matsuoka tossed Ohtani a couple of softballs about the upcoming, then asked him to compare the positive aspects of American and Japanese baseball. Ohtani’s response was surprisingly blunt.
Angels right-hander Shohei Ohtani pitches against the Minnesota Twins on Sept. 23, 2022, in Minneapolis. Because his interviews usually consist of benign platitudes, on the rare occasions Ohtani makes declarative statements, they take an oversized role in shaping the public’s perception of him. The widespread opinion that Ohtani will leave the Angels next winter can be attributed almost entirely to that statement.He was evasive on virtually every subject Thursday, sounding like a Japanese Chase Utley as he exerted more effort to dodge questions than would have been required to just answer them. Ohtani refused even to say how important the WBC was to him.
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