Ohtani holds first news conference with Dodgers

“One of our goals is to have baseball fans in Japan convert to Dodger blue.”

Best of luck to you Shohei, please stay healthy. Ohtaniwill be playing for what should be a much better team, than the Angels, a team with the stars and enough depth to win the World Series.

I'm no fan of any Los Angeles team, but here in Japan, and anywhere in the world, I would rather see an LA hat than one for New York Yankees. In a world where the rich get richer it might be the Yankees and Dodgers playing it off in the Woerld Series.

hanked controlling owner Mark Walter,

Walter as I recall is also owner of Premier League team Chelsea. The Dodgers might get a Wold Series for Walter, any chance of a Championship for Chelsea, or does he need to spend more of his billions to do that?

Ohtani’s unusual contract calls for annual salaries of $70 million and of each year’s salary, $68 million is deferred with no interest, payable in equal installments each July 1 from 2034-43. 

According to the Los Angeles Times, “the true present-day value of Ohtani’s contract is worth about $460 million (since, again, money in the future is less valuable than money in the present).”

https://sports.yahoo.com/much-shohei-ohtani-contract-cost-204524279.html

I wish Ohtani the best and hope he continues shattering records on his way to the MLB Hall of Fame.

What stupid saying "two -way" star. Showboy can also field with the best. His just at home on any base, then any specialist at 1st, 2nd or 3rd and as a in-fielder or out fielder. I prefer the use of allrounder.

Oh....OTani-san!

What stupid saying "two -way" star. Showboy can also field with the best. His just at home on any base, then any specialist at 1st, 2nd or 3rd and as a in-fielder or out fielder. I prefer the use of allrounder.

"Two-way player/star" has been part of baseball vernacular pretty much forever. It was used in Babe Ruth's day. Also used in basketball, hockey and American football. Whether you think it is "stupid" or not is kind of irrelevant.

"Two-way player/star" has been part of baseball vernacular pretty much forever. 

Just to nitpick here, I don't think it was.

If you had used the term "two-way player" in 2010 in reference to a baseball player without providing any additional context, your average fan would have had no idea what you were talking about.

Ruth last played as a pitcher in 1918, so you basically had a century between him and Ohtani coming over to MLB in which that type of player simply didn't exist, so whatever terminology had been used to describe Ruth's combination of pitching and hitting talents (not sure if they used "two-way player" back in his day) had long since faded from regular use.

Welcome to the club, Ohtani.

@ rainyday - fair points!

I guess in this age, and in the context of the Ohtani story, most readers however would be familiar with the meaning. Even if the actual proponents of "two-way" play have become very rare. Which makes Ohtani stand out even more!

 I would rather see an LA hat than one for New York Yankees. 

Not if you are a Giants or Red Sox fan. Go Giants! Go Sox!

Yeah, saw that. This is ALL that was on TV across all channels this morning.

Had hoped to fune for the latest on the LDP scandal.

Overexposure

It was very generous of him to tell us the name of his dog.

Two-way player/star" has been part of baseball vernacular pretty much forever. 

Wrong sport! There hasnt been a legitimate "two way player" prior to Otani in 100 years!

Wrong sport! 

That would be calling him an "all-rounder" as a previous poster suggested. Now, that's a cricket term.

What would you call someone with this rare skillset? A "dual player" as other media have called him? Ohtani is not the only guy who is brilliant at both batting and pitching, but definitely the best of his era.

So players don,t field they only pitch and bat. What would be that game ? That be hard trying to play a ballgame with no fielders. There is three skill set a complete baseball player has, fielding, batting and pitching so the term two way is just stupid. It a term brought about by the media for hipe, whom only appreciate pitching and batting and forget about the skill of fielding. So the term allrounders is more appropriate only those who don,t appreciate the full aspect of the game would use the term two way.

@ rainyday - fair points!

I guess in this age, and in the context of the Ohtani story, most readers however would be familiar with the meaning. Even if the actual proponents of "two-way" play have become very rare. Which makes Ohtani stand out even more!

Yeah, this is why I thought my nitpicky point was worth bringing up. He's such a rare talent that we're having to create new vocabulary (or resurrect century old ones) to describe him, something that almost never happens.

I hope the LA Dodgers win the WS.

So the term allrounders is more appropriate only those who don,t appreciate the full aspect of the game would use the term two way.

OK then, because a random internet guy says so, the term "all-rounder" will be henceforth be borrowed from cricked and used in baseball. LOL

The term "5-tool" is used more in baseball than "all-rounder"

That would be calling him an "all-rounder" as a previous poster suggested. Now, that's a cricket term.

In American sports the term "two way player" is most commonly used in American Football, meaning a player that plays both on the offense and defense in any given game.

They are becoming more rare as well, but it is still common to see in HS and sometimes college.