The impact of Shohei Ohtani not pitching in the World Baseball Classic

Yahoo Sports senior MLB analysts Jordan Shusterman and Jake Mintz are joined by NBP expert Yuri Karasawa to discuss why Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani is opting out of pitching in the World Baseball Classic. Hear the full conversation on the “Baseball Bar-B-Cast” podcast – and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen.

Video Transcript

Ohtani’s decision to not pitch, whether or not this is 100% his decision or not, we don’t have to get into that.

But the fact that Ohtani is not pitching is a big part of this conversation that we’re about to have, involving the pitching strategy and a lot of arms that I think casual fans are start to- are about to become a lot more familiar with.

Yamamoto’s going to be a part of that, too.

But before we get to some of those pitchers, let’s talk about Ohtani not pitching.

How has that been received back home?

Is there more pressure on him to show up and hit a bunch of home runs?

H- and how has that impacted the roster construction from your perception?

Because Ohtani threw the most innings on the team in the 2023 edition.

It was not just that last awesome pitch to Mike Trout.

So as we talk about here, covering about 60 innings over potentially seven innings, seven games of competition, which is what you r- need to do to win, to win it all, he is not a part of that, as well as several other pitchers who will not be a part of this pitching staff.

But let’s start with Ohtani.

What is the, the Ohtani vibe going into the, going into the WBC with him only being a hitter?

I think people very much understand, like, why he can’t do it, because of, you know, coming off the injury, pitched in the postseason as well for the Dodgers.

and it’s just really unfortunate for how this team is constructed because, you know, with Ohtani, you’re thinking, “Hey, th- they’re usually gonna let this guy just do whatever he feels like,” and I’m sure he really wants to be able to pitch, even if it’s just, you know, say, one or two relief appearances.

which is kind of the role that he was put in in the knockout stages last time, although he was starting earlier in the tournament.

So it really hurts to, to not have that, you know, high-octane, 100-plus mile-per-hour arm a- available to you.

I think it does put pressure on him to deliver exclusively with the bat, but I don’t think anyone’s, like, necessarily worried that he’s gonna be able to pull that off.

But, yeah, you know, it’s not just Ohtani, because they’re also missing his teammate, Roki Sasaki.

Tatsuya Imai is on the designated pitcher pool, but he’s not, you know, on the, the main team right now.

they’re missing a couple of other stars from NPB as well.

So the pitching staff, they were already looking a little bit weaker than 2023, but then when the news dropped that Ohtani is not pitching at all, like, not even, again, one or two appearances, makes it look a little bit worse, even.

I would like to just get something across to our listeners.

We talked quite a bit about the insurance situation as it pertained to Puerto Rico.

I am very passionate about the following.

I do not have inside information on this, but there is no way, there is no way that Shohei Ohtani, the pitcher, was ever going to get insured for this tournament.

If you take into account what he means from a value proposition perspective, what h- like, it is the most expensive elbow in the world, right?

He is a star on another hemisphere, another plane to anybody in this sport, right?

And there I just can’t envision an insurance company being like, “Oh, this guy with all the elbow injuries who got hurt a couple years ago, probably because he pitched in this tournament?

We’ll insure that.”

You can’t put a dollar on it.

And so, like, I would imagine, Yuri, that people in Japan understand that dynamic, and it is not Ohtani saying, “Thanks, but no thanks,” right?

It is Ohtani within the confines of his own past, which includes blowing out to win the whole thing.

People are not mad at him, right?

Yeah, no, not at all, and it’s very understandable, especially because Japan hasn’t been hit as hard with these insurance issues- Mm-hmm as a lot of the other teams, especially the Latin countries.

we heard from, the Venezuelan manager, Omar Lopez, that when trying to recruit, Venezuelans in MPD, that’s also been, difficult, ’cause the premiums are quite high.

Like Anderson Espinoza for the Oryx Buffaloes was potentially gonna be on the team, but the premiums are, you know, like, up to $90,000.

So it’s like, Japan hasn’t been affected as hard with the insurance issues, nor do they have guys that just like, outright decline, generally speaking, unlike, you know, certain, of the other big powerhouses like the US and, and Dominican.

So, Japan’s roster is still They’re, they’re working with, a lot more than others can.

The impact of Shohei Ohtani not pitching in the World Baseball Classic

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