One afternoon in May, the most famous baseball player in the world was running late. Shohei Ohtani had taken the last team bus from the Angels’ hotel in Oakland to the Coliseum, as is his habit on days when he’s slated to pitch. Ohtani’s multitiered gig—as one of MLB’s most powerful hitters and flummoxing pitchers and, increasingly, the sport’s global avatar—requires an intricate itinerary. He throws side sessions before rounds of batting practice. He watches tape of that night’s opposing starter and then studies scouting reports for his own start days later. He finds himself, on occasion, on a bus alongside the Angels’ traveling secretary, his catcher, Kurt Suzuki, and Ippei Mizuhara, a 36-year-old who has never played an inning of organized baseball.
'A Game of Speech'—But Also, For Baseball Interpreters, So Much More
