Shohei Ohtani's Former Angels Teammate Immediately Knew He Was Innocent in Gambling Scandal

Maren Angus-Coombs | Apr 20, 2024

Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

When news first broke about Shohei Ohtani's former interpreter Ippei Mizuhara's gambling scandal, it sent shockwaves through Major League Baseball.

For former teammates of the two-way superstar with the Los Angeles Angels like Michael Hermosillo, there was no way Ohtani had anything to do with gambling.

Hermosillo was teammates with Ohtani in Anaheim from 2018-20. He spoke to the Staffcast podcast about his thoughts on the Mizuhara scandal:

“On the whole gambling thing that came up, even immediately I was like, ‘Ohtani, there is no way he had anything to do with this.’ Because if you just see the amount of work that guy puts in every day, and just what he has to do, when he was doing both and not recovering from injury – all the pitching stuff he has to do, all the hitting stuff he has to do – he just gets after it, man. He’s always trying to get better. He legit obsesses over baseball 24-7 and finds ways he can try to be better.”

Other teammates spoke with the Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register in March telling him that Ohtani never showed any interest in different sports. Several others told Bob Nightengale of USA Today that Ohtani mostly kept to himself driving straight home after home games and on the road by not leaving his hotel room except to go to games.

Mickey Moniak told Nightengale that Ohtani was so quiet that he didn't even know he had a girlfriend, let alone was getting married.

Ohtani was cleared in the federal investigation and by Major League Baseball. At the same time, Mizuhara was charged with felony bank fraud and has been court-ordered to attend a program to treat gambling addiction.