Steven A. Smith commented last night at the HR derby that Shohei Ohtani uses a translator... [View all]
so people understand "what the hell he's saying." It was a dumb thing to say and he apologized this morning on his ESPN show.
He also inferred that because of Ohtani not speaking English baseball can't market him effectively. That is of course bullshit. Baseball can't even market Mike Trout, Ohtani's Angels team mate who for years has been recognized as the best player in baseball.
Smith should know better. It's baseball's hidebound, behind the times attitudes not Ohtani's not being able to speak English. He's a good looking kid too. Baseball should be blasting ads of him all over. Professional ad agencies can promote anyone and make them, and baseball, which needs it desperately, popular nationwide. Look what was done with the "Bo Jackson knows" campaign. Or the many Micheal Jordan campaigns. The stars don't have to speak in them. Hell they could even have Ohtani say a few things phonetically in English, as he's attractive and has a great smile.
At least Smith apologized and had an Asian American colleague on to bounce things off of. Well done on that.
Baseball on the other hand seems to be still unable to recognized what they have in Ohtani, and Trout too for that matter. Sad.
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