Person | Shohei Ohtani is the highest paid athlete in the world – and nobody knows anything about him

From Japanese about a baseball player About Shohei Ohtani became the highest-paid athlete in history when he signed a 10-year, $700 million (€650 million) contract with the Los Angles Dodgers in December.

More correctly expressed, it is the largest contract between a club and an athlete in history. Many athletes, for example, reach higher seasonal earnings through various cooperation agreements.

Even though Ohtani, 29, makes $70 million a season, no one knows anything about him, ESPN reported before Thursday's start of the baseball season.

Ohtani gave his new club, the Dodgers, a one-minute grace period before announcing on social media that he had chosen the Los Angeles club.

It also came as a complete surprise to everyone that Ohtani said in the spring that he got married. None of his old and new teammates even knew he had a girlfriend. For some reason, there was a picture of a Japanese dog in the corner of the marriage bulletin.

Ohtani begins its seventh year in the United States. In previous seasons, he played shortstop for the Los Angeles Angels.

He has had an iron-clad routine for all these years. He has come from the hotel to the playing field for practice or a match and returned to the hotel. He is obsessive about food, recovery and sleep.

“Ohtani wakes up every morning just thinking about how he could be the best baseball player in the world,” former Angels head coach Phil Nevin commented to ESPN.

Nevin didn't have the worst knowledge about his player either.

“I didn't know what he was doing in training all day long. I left it to him.”

None of the Dodgers' new teammates have a single story about a Japanese. No reports of spring training or dinners.

Ohtani cherishes his privacy, does not like to give interviews and only speaks in Japanese through an interpreter. When the Dodgers played preseason practice games in South Korea, the club had to negotiate with the player's agent for weeks in order to be interviewed by the local media.

Still, a completely cheekless media circus revolves around him.

Ohtani is a completely exceptional player, because unlike all other top players, he both passes and hits – and is a superstar in both. In the upcoming season, however, he will focus only on hitting, as he recovers from a pitching hand injury that required surgery.

In his home country he is in an iconic position. During training camp in Los Angeles, an army of Japanese photographers took the same picture every morning of Ohtani arriving for practice.

The mystery only grew in the pictures. Ohtani had a new Porsche under him every four days. In the end, he traded the classic model 911 for a silver Carrera.

“It's crazy that Japanese reporters come to our rehearsals every day. He never talks to them,” one Dodgers player commented to ESPN.

by an ESPN reporter by Tim Keown says he has never known as little about an athlete he has written as much about as Ohtani.

Despite everything, Ohtani apparently knows English, although he doesn't think he's good enough to speak the language.

“We are still surprised by how much English he knows. That's a good thing,” Dodgers head coach Dave Roberts told the Japanese For the Asahi Shimbun.

Super star protected for years by a credit man Ippei Mizuhara, who was the player's best friend, driver, interpreter and coach at the same time. Mizuhara constantly followed Ohtan like a ship shark, carrying his backpack and water bottle. Ohtani could only be spoken to through Mizuhara.

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Since no one ever saw the couple apart, the teammates suspected that they lived together. However, no one really knew about their living arrangements.

However, earlier in the week of Easter, the two's relationship ended when Mizuhara was fired. Ohtani is in the middle of a betting scandal.

Ohtani accuses Mizuhara of stealing $4.5 million (€4.2 million) from him to pay off his betting debts. According to Mizuhara, Ohtani himself accepted and paid the millions to the Southern California bookie. Ohtani has denied ever placing a bet.

A major investigation is underway into the scandal. In recent years, betting has been allowed in numerous US states, but it is still prohibited in California.

Betting for athletes in North American professional sports leagues is strictly prohibited in the collective agreements.

According to Dodgers head coach Roberts, Mizuhara's firing may unravel the mystery of Ohtani.

“The change can improve the club's internal relations. There is no longer an intermediary between us and the player. Over the past few days, Shohei has been interacting more with his teammates, which is only a good thing,” Roberts commented to the Asahi Shimbun.