Shohei Ohtani pulled up a chair inside the visitors clubhouse at Nationals Park and gazed up at a television. For a moment he was alone, undisturbed by the rest of the Los Angeles Dodgers, a solitary figure watching the Arizona Diamondbacks play the St. Louis Cardinals.
Then first-base coach Clayton McCullough approached to chat. Will Ireton, the team’s manager of performance operations who doubles as Ohtani’s interpreter, came over. A member of the media relations staff stopped by.
A little more than a month has passed since the Dodgers fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s longtime friend and interpreter, after Ohtani accused Mizuhara of stealing money from him to fund gambling debts. Dodgers officials have described Ohtani as more approachable since the dismissal of Mizuhara, who operated as a gatekeeper for the two-way star.