TOKYO – Hey Shohei Ohtani, where is the fancy Porsche you hinted at giving your manager Dave Roberts if the Los Angeles Dodgers won the World Series?
Well, the Dodgers won the World Series against the New York Yankees more than a month ago, so what gives?
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Visiting Tokyo on Wednesday and speaking to mostly Japanese reporters, Roberts was reminded that Ohtani gave teammate Joe Kelly a new Porsche when Kelly agreed to hand over his No. 17 to the Japanese superstar after he joined the Dodgers from the Angels.
Subsequently, Ohtani gave Roberts a toy Porsche and then, according to Roberts, hinted the real thing might still be coming.
“Where's my real car?” Roberts recalled asking.
According to Roberts, Ohtani replied: “If we win the World Series, maybe we'll talk about it.”
Well, Roberts suggested he's ready to talk, if it's only in jest.
“So we won the World Series," Roberts said. “I don’t know. Good question.”
Ohtani can get better
Roberts said Ohtani — who has won three MVP awards — can get even better at the plate.
“I think with Shohei there were some parts of his season where he was a little too aggressive swinging,” Roberts said. "And I think there’s still room in there for him to be a little more disciplined at the plate. We can make him potentially even better.”
The Dodgers and Cubs open the MLB season on March 18-19 at the Tokyo Dome. Roberts ruled out Ohtani pitching in that first series.
“I don’t think that’s going to happen. I expect him to be in the lineup as a hitter," Roberts said. "But as far as the pitching. He hasn’t pitched in over a year. We have to manage how many innings he has for 2025. If we start him in March he won’t be able to sustain that through October.”
Roberts, who managed Ohtani in 2024 as only a DH, said he'll rely on his star and trainers for guidance in 2025.
“I think it’s just going to be honest conversations about how he’s feeling,” Roberts said. “He's certainly not going to have as many plate appearances as he did this year because he’s going to be a pitcher as well.”
Growing up in Okinawa
Roberts was born in Okinawa — Japan's southern island chain — to a mother from Okinawa and an American father who served in the United States military. He was headed there on Wednesday to visit family — uncles, aunts, cousins and friends.
He called his mother “my heart” and laughed that he got angry with her at times because he thought she dressed him “like a girl.” He said his father died six years ago.
“He did a great job of raising me,” he said. “I miss him every day.”
Raised in a military family, he said he moved frequently, and this taught him how to deal people from many cultures.
“Being a young kid and moving every three years to another state, another country, forced me and my sister to adapt,” he said. "We joined teams in the middle of the season, we joined schools in the middle of the school year.
“I do believe that having to move all over the world helped me relate and get along with anybody,” he added. "In my job, there’s people from all over the world.”
Making a TV spot
Roberts has filmed a television spot for Japanese sponsor Kinoshita Group, an entertainment company. Without giving away much, he said the message in the spot was that “people need each other” and it matters how you treat others if they are to "reach their potential.”
He said of the spot: “I think it's going to make an impact.”
He also delved into his interest in mental health, mentioning how emotions were often suppressed when he was growing up in Japanese culture. He talked about being active in Changing Tides, a Los Angeles-based group that promotes mental health in the Asian American community.
“Emotions in the Japanese culture I grew up in weren't always shared,” he said. “Everything was always supposed to okay. And we didn't talk about how we truly felt.”
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB