Shohei Ohtani and his wife Mamiko Tanaka are expecting their first child, and Ohtani’s Los Angeles Dodgers teammate, Mookie Betts, has some advice for him.
“He should get his sleep now,” Betts said during an interview in Tokyo on Tuesday. “Because when the baby comes, he won’t get any.” Betts, who has two children of his own, speaks from experience.
During a brief interview while on a promotional tour for a Japanese tea brand, Betts answered a few questions at a hotel. As expected, most of the questions were about Ohtani and rookie pitcher Roki Sasaki, who recently signed with the Dodgers, the World Series champions.
Both Ohtani and Sasaki will be featured when the Dodgers and the Chicago Cubs start the Major League Baseball season on March 18 and 19 in two games at the Tokyo Dome.
Betts shared that he had already met Sasaki, a 23-year-old pitcher being called a “phenom” even before making his MLB debut. Sasaki will join Ohtani and another pitcher, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, on the Dodgers.
“Roki is really, really soft spoken,” Betts said. “You can tell that he’ll love being around Yoshi (Yamamoto) and Shohei. I think that will really help him a lot.”
Betts described Sasaki as a quiet person, which is likely due in part to the language barrier.
“I’m going to get him out of his shell,” Betts said. “I’m going to laugh and joke and get him to really embrace the American culture. I think that will really help him to be the best pitcher on the planet. Because I think that everyone believes he can definitely be the best pitcher on the planet.”
Betts also shared his thoughts on Ohtani, repeating what many have said about the star player and giving the Japanese media what they wanted to hear.
“He’s like a god,” Betts said. “His presence in the clubhouse — it’s so important.”
