Angels teammate reveals Shohei Ohtani’s unexpected talent
Aug 21, 2018; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Los Angeles Angels pitcher/designated hitter Shohei Ohtani in the dugout against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
Shohei Ohtani is a two-way superstar, and that apparently applies to his language-speaking ability as well.
Los Angeles Angels closer Carlos Estevez, who was an AL All-Star this year like his teammate Ohtani, revealed this week the unexpected talent that the Japanese sensation has — Ohtani speaks surprisingly decent Spanish.
“It’s sneaky good,” said Estevez of Ohtani’s Spanish, per FOX LA. “He’s got some good words in Spanish. I was surprised.
“[Sometimes] we [teammates] are talking about something, and we’d say something in English,” Estevez went on. “If he sees one of the Latin guys doesn’t understand it very well, he drops in Spanish. That’s always pretty funny. The Latin guy didn’t understand English but Shohei got it and translated it to Spanish.”
In addition to Estevez, the Angels have several other Latin players on the roster such as infielders Luis Rengifo and Eduardo Escobar and pitchers Jaime Barria and Jose Soriano. It sure sounds like Ohtani may have picked up a few tricks of the Spanish language from those guys.
The AL MVP frontrunner Ohtani also has a good grasp of English but is not quite fluent in it and thus gives interviews through his Japanese interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara.
Earlier this year, we learned Ohtani was helping out an Angels teammate who was tipping pitches. Now the generational talent is helping teammates communicate with each other too. Is there anything that this guy can’t do?!
