Do we like Shohei Ohtani?
Our score: 8 out of 10. Decent and on the right side as far as the record shows: kind acts, no harmful words found, one pending lawsuit, and few public views to judge.
Shohei Ohtani was born in 1994 in Mizusawa, now part of Oshu, in Iwate, Japan. He started his pro career with the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters, joined the Los Angeles Angels in 2018 and won Rookie of the Year. He signed with the Dodgers in 2023 and has since collected four league MVP awards and two World Series titles.
The big stoush of his career wasn't his own doing. In March 2024 the Dodgers fired his interpreter Ippei Mizuhara amid gambling claims, and Ohtani said he was “saddened and shocked” and that Mizuhara had been stealing from his account. He also said he had never bet on baseball or other sports. Mizuhara later pleaded guilty, and in February 2025 he was sentenced to 57 months in prison, with prosecutors describing Ohtani as the victim.
Reports at the time said federal investigators had concluded Ohtani had no role in the gambling and that his interpreter took the money without his knowledge. Those early reports leaned on unnamed sources, so the sentencing and the prosecutor's comments outside court are the firmer footing. The judge called the roughly $17 million take “shockingly high”.
On the harm check, we found nothing. No bad words about LGBTQ+ people, women, migrants or the planet, and no campaigning, conspiracy theories or dodgy company turned up. He also isn't much of a public commentator, so we can't tell you how he feels on those issues. That's honestly the whole list. One caution: a viral post putting protest-related words in his mouth was circulating online. We didn't find an official statement from him confirming it.
There's one live legal matter. A developer and a broker sued Ohtani and his agent in Hawaii in August 2025. They alleged tortious interference and unjust enrichment over a luxury housing project on the Big Island. Ohtani's lawyers say his name and image were used without authorisation, and they have moved to dismiss. We found no ruling, so treat it as unresolved.
The good stuff is simple and sweet. In late 2023 he announced he was funding about 60,000 youth baseball gloves for roughly 20,000 elementary schools across Japan, three to a school. His note said he hoped the kids could “spend their days happily with a lot of energy”. It's a small kindness with a big reach.