Shohei Ohtani addressed his gambling controversy before the Los Angeles Dodgers' home opener in March, and the two-way phenom placed all of the blame on his former interpreter Ippei Mizuhara. Ohtani denied ever betting on baseball or other sports and accused Mizuhara of lying and stealing. Ohtani, though, made the accusation while giving a statement and did not take any questions from the media. New York Yankees broadcaster Michael Kay recently called Ohtani out for not taking questions about the controversial situation.
“The most unbelievable thing to me, fans don’t care about this, the guy (Ohtani) has never had to take questions on this,” Kay said on his ESPN radio show Tuesday. “Not once! What other athlete, in any professional sport, would be allowed to remain mum — not say a word other than a prepared statement and never take a question!”
After acknowledging that other superstars in MLB such as Aaron Judge and Juan Soto talk “after every tough loss,” Kay doubled-down on his stance.
“This guy doesn’t have to answer a question? And he’s in the middle of what could be one of the biggest scandals in baseball history and he has not answered a question,” Kay said.
Does Kay have a point about Shohei Ohtani?
Regardless of your thoughts on the Shohei Ohtani situation, it is surprising that the Dodgers star has not answered any questions. Ohtani could realistically help his case out by talking to the media and giving honest answers to the questions.
But Ohtani has remained silent on the controversy since his statement in late March. The Dodgers are playing great baseball and Ohtani looks like a star despite being limited to just hitting amid his elbow injury.
Investigations into the gambling situation are ongoing. Ohtani said he will be willing to cooperate in all investigations. There was speculation that rumors about the situation could be a distraction and lead to an underwhelming start to the year for Ohtani. However, Shohei has silenced that speculation.
The 29-year-old is currently slashing .333/.369/.650/1.019 in 2024. He has already crushed three home runs and smashed a league-leading eight doubles thus far as well. In other words, Shohei Ohtani is absolutely tearing the cover off the baseball.
Nevertheless, whispers have continued to swirl about the gambling controversy.
Of course, there are some people who think Ohtani is completely innocent and completely believe everything he said in late March. There are others, though, who want to wait until the investigation is complete before making up their minds.
Again, we are assuming that Shohei Ohtani is innocent. After all, that is what he said and we don't have any reason to not believe him. With that being said, Michael Kay does make a valid point. Ohtani probably should have answered questions by now.
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