Not the moment he was expecting, Los Angeles Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani not only smashed a 112 mph home run, the ball ended up hitting a child in the face.
Ohtani hit his 27th home run of the season during the Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Arizona Diamondbacks on Tuesday, July 2. However, after he ran the bases, a slow-motion cam caught the ball sailing right into a child’s face in the stands.
The clip was posted on X (formerly Twitter). “This poor kid was a victim of the Ohtani clutch,” the caption reads.
There has yet to be any word about the child after getting hit.
Shohei Ohtani has played seven seasons for the Angels and Dodgers. He made his MBL debut in March 2018.
Following Ohtani’s 27th home run of the season, Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts spoke out about the milestone.
“It’s one of those things, Shohei is very storybook. It seems like whenever there’s anticipation for something to happen, it happens. Just look back at the [World Baseball Classic], him versus [Mike] Trout, that one where he was pitching.”
Roberts also acknowledged that Shohei Ohtani’s latest achievement was done during the team’s Japanese Heritage Night. “And then on Japanese Heritage [Night], obviously you’ve got so many people from Japan here. And then he comes up huge.”
Shohei Ohtani Looking Forward to Focusing on Just Baseball After Ippei Mizuhara Investigation
The latest baseball career milestone for Shohei Ohtani comes just after his former interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, pleaded guilty to bank and tax fraud charges.
According to ESPN, MLB declared Ohtani was “a victim of fraud and this matter has been closed.”
Mizuhara is accused of stealing more than $16 million from Ohtani.
“Now that the investigation has been completed, this full admission of guilt has brought important closure to me and my family,” Shohei Ohtani shared. “I want to sincerely thank the authorities for finishing their thorough and effective investigation so quickly and uncovering all of the evidence.”
“This has been a uniquely challenging time for me,” Ohtani’s continued. “So I am especially grateful for my support team — my family, agent, agency, lawyers and advisors along with the entire Dodgers organization, who showed endless support throughout this process.”
“It’s time to close this chapter, move on and continue to focus on playing and winning ballgames.”
During his testimony, Mizuhara spoke about his crimes against Ohtani. “I worked for Victim A [Ohtani] and I had access to his bank account,” he explained. “I had fallen into major gambling debt, and the only way that I could think of was to use his money.”
Mizuhara also said, “I had access to Bank A. So I went ahead and wired money for my gambling debt with his bank account.”
Mizuhara is not a U.S. citizen and reportedly faces “significant” immigration consequences. Among them are “a risk of deportation.”
The consequences will not be applied until after Mizuhara completes a potential sentencing. Mizuhara came to the U.S. more than six years ago. He served as Ohtani’s full-time interpreter.