TOKYO — Shohei Ohtani and his wife, Mamiko Tanaka, are expecting their first child. Ohtani’s Los Angeles Dodgers teammate Mookie Betts has some advice.
“He should get his sleep now,” Betts said, speaking Tuesday in Tokyo. “Because when the baby comes he won’t get any.”
Betts has two children and knows from experience.
Betts, on a promotional tour for a Japanese tea brand, took only a few questions in a very brief interview session at a local hotel.
As expected, the questions were about Ohtani and rookie pitcher Roki Sasaki, who just signed with the World Series-champion Dodgers.
Both will be on display when the Dodgers and the Chicago Cubs open the Major League Baseball season March 18 and 19 in two games at the Tokyo Dome.
Betts said he’d already met with the 23-year-old Sasaki, who is being described as a “phenom” before he’s even thrown a pitch in MLB. Sasaki will join fellow Japanese pitchers Ohtani and 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 being very reserved, which must be partly attributed to a 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 repeated what many have said about Ohtani, and gave Japanese media what they wanted to hear.
“He’s like a god,” Betts said. “His presence in the clubhouse — it’s so important.”