Los Angeles Dodgers' Ohtani Shohei (32) urged people to stop the social media attacks against members of the Japanese national team.
Japanese outlet Full Count reported on the 19th (Korean time) that "Ohtani spoke to reporters after his spring training appearance. Regarding the malicious comments that have become an issue since the WBC (World Baseball Classic), he said "I don't care" to describe how he deals with them."
Ohtani, who returned to his club the Dodgers after participating as a member of Japan's WBC national team, started on the mound in the spring game against the San Francisco Giants held Thursday at Camelback Ranch in Glendale, Arizona, and recorded 4 1/3 innings, one hit, two walks, four strikeouts and no runs allowed. From his first spring outing he left a strong impression with a top fastball of 99.9 mph (160.8 km/h).
Although his first spring outing result was good, WBC left many regrets. In this WBC, Ohtani played only as a hitter, not as a two-way player. He shone in four games with a .462 batting average (13 at-bats, six hits), three home runs, seven RBIs, six runs and an OPS of 1.842.
Fueled by Ohtani's performance, Japan went 4-0 in first-round Pool C and advanced to the quarterfinals as the pool winner. But they lost 5-8 to eventual champion Venezuela in the quarterfinals, failing for the first time in history to reach the WBC semifinals. Japan was stunned by its first quarterfinal exit, and manager Iwata Hirokazu, who had led the team to a disappointing finish at this WBC following a runner-up finish at the 2024 Premier12, resigned as national team manager immediately after the tournament, saying, "For professionals, results are everything."
Full Count explained that "the Japanese national team finished the tournament with a first-ever failure to reach the WBC semifinals after losing in the quarterfinals of the 6th WBC. Malicious criticism toward the national team players continued on social media. The players' association even had to call for restraint," describing the intense wave of malicious criticism aimed at Japanese national team players.
Ohtani said about the situation, "Personally, I don't care even if I hear things like that. However, personal attacks or things like that are completely unrelated to baseball, so I think they're not good."
"As a professional, when results are not good, if it's about me personally I'm prepared to accept whatever is said," Ohtani said, emphasizing that he would accept baseball-related criticism. "But not every player can necessarily think that way. I think treating others with consideration is an important constant everywhere. In the end, I think it comes down to that," he added, asking for an end to the criticism of other players.
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