At least one former MLB all-star is skeptical over Shohei Ohtani’s proclaimed lack of involvement in the recent gambling scandal around the Japanese star.
While the Los Angeles Dodgers’ two-way star has denied betting on baseball, sports in general or ever willingly paying a bookie, there have been plenty of unanswered questions regarding the actions of ex-interpreter Ippei Mizuhara.
Mizuhara, who worked with Ohtani since the two-time MVP came to Major League Baseball, allegedly stole roughly $4.5 million from Ohtani’s bank accounts to pay off gambling debts. Mizuhara also said that Ohtani had openly helped him pay off gambling debts.
Mizuhara has since admitted to lying in an interview with ESPN while Ohtani maintains that the translator was “stealing money and telling lies.”
One voice to cast doubt on the whole story is former MLB all-star A.J. Pierzynski, who questioned how anyone – even someone as wealthy as Ohtani – could miss the large withdrawals.
“First of all, I want to give the benefit of the doubt to Shohei, because he’s an incredible talent. But … I just don’t know how you can have multiple large deposits taken out of your account,” Pierzynski told Outkick’s Dan Dakich. “I know Shohei probably wasn’t watching it every day, but he’s got people that watch that stuff. You don’t think there was an accountant that would’ve noticed, ‘Hey, by the way, you’ve had nine $500,000 deposits go out? Nine of them?’ One, maybe you’re like, ‘OK, we missed something.’ But nine of them for $4.5 million? That’s where it gets a little weird to me.”
Pierzynski, who spent 19 years in the majors with seven different teams, said that he also knows “plenty of guys that have gotten money taken from them because they give access to things they shouldn’t give access to.”
He also found it bizarre that Ohtani remained seemingly close to Mizuhara on the day that the news broke, despite rumours swirling.
“But for me, with Shohei, an interpreter who was his best friend. And then, the other thing that is weird is the day this all comes out, he’s in the dugout like ‘Hey buddy, we’re pals. Let’s go out to dinner.’ And then, all of a sudden, right after the game, they tell you ‘No, this guy stole $4.5 million from you without you knowing?’ The circumstances don’t add up.”
Ohtani said he had not learned of Mizuhara’s gambling until the team’s series in Seoul, yet Mizuhara “has been telling everybody around that he has been communicating with me on this account to my representatives, to the team, and that has not been true,” Ohtani said during a news conference earlier this week.
“When we went back to the hotel one to one, that was when I found out he had a massive debt.”
MLB is investigating the matter while the regular season is now in full swing with all 30 teams taking the field.