Shohei Ohtani mum on future but ‘really liked’ time spent in Seattle

Tuesday’s MLB All-Star Game will mark the 32nd time Shohei Ohtani has played at T-Mobile Park.

But Monday, when he arrived for Workout Day and a required meeting with the media, Ohtani turned toward the first-base side and the home clubhouse being used by the host American League instead of the visitor’s side down the third-base line.

The first thing he did, he said, was try to figure out where the locker of Ichiro — one of his childhood idols growing up in Japan — might have been.

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“I was kind of wondering where Ichiro was sitting,” he said through interpreter Ippei Mizuhara. “It was kind of cool to see the home side.”

So could Ohtani someday make that “home side” his permanent address?

That is the $500-to-$600 million question (if not more) that hovers over all things Ohtani as he plays out the final two and a half months of his contract with the Angels.

As might be expected, Ohtani was asked lots of varying questions relating to his future during his roughly 45-minute news conference, which was split into thirds — roughly 15 minutes for Japanese TV, 15 minutes for Japanese print media and 15 minutes for English media. 

As also might be expected, Ohtani played things as close to the vest as possible, making no huge revelations.

“This is my third All-Star Game, but every time I come my goal is to come back to the All-Star Game next year, so that’s basically all I think about,” he said when asked if being at this event makes him think even more about his future.

But Mariners fans looking for hope that maybe an Ohtani-Seattle union could be in the offing — the Mariners made a heavy play for Ohtani when he chose the Angels in December 2017 and are thought to be preparing to make a similarly big play for him this time — could certainly find some.

Asked what he thinks of the city of Seattle, Ohtani noted the time he has spent in the city in the offseason previously, including in 2021 when, among other things, he reportedly toured the Driveline Baseball developmental facility in Kent.

“I’ve actually spent about two offseasons in Seattle, a total of four months maybe,” Ohtani said. “And I felt like it’s a very nice city. I really liked it.”

And as for what will be important in making his decision, Ohtani said with every passing season the chance to take part in the playoffs — something the Angels have not done during his time with them — looms even larger.

“Those feelings get stronger year by year,” he said through Mizuhara. “It sucks to lose. He wants to win. So that gets stronger every year.”

It appeared for much of the first half that this might be the season the Angels might finally break through for the first time since 2014 — the Angels were a season-best eight games over on June 18.

But the Angels lost nine of their last 10 games entering the All-Star break — a slump that coincided with another injury to fellow superstar Mike Trout, a broken hamate bone that might keep him out until mid-to-late August — and are 45-46 and in fourth place at the break, having been passed by the surging Mariners.

That skid and the harsh reality that Ohtani could well move on in the offseason led one Los Angeles Times columnist to write this weekend that “the reeling Angels need to swallow hard and trade Ohtani” so as to not risk seeing the game’s most dynamic player leave for nothing.

That is viewed as unlikely. But until the trade deadline passes on Aug. 1, speculation will linger.

Ohtani said he will try not to get caught up in it.

“Obviously, all the trade stuff he has no control over,” Mizuhara said on Ohtani’s behalf. “So he tries not to think about it. Just focuses on the game that day, and that’s the hardest part, trying to win ballgames every day. So he just tries not to think about that, all the trade stuff.”

Such delicately worded answers dominated his news conference.

Asked if Ohtani cares about playing in a bigger or smaller market, Mizuhara answered, “It doesn’t really matter to him if it’s a big or smaller market. The Angels fans come to watch the Angels because they love the team and he wants to perform the best for them and, like he said, there is stuff that he can control and that he can’t control, and whatever he can control, he wants to do his best at it.”

He gave similar answers when asked about how he feels he has handled playing this season with the specter of free agency looming and how much his future weighs on his mind.

“I’ve never been a free agent before, so not sure how that’s going to be,” he said. “Like I said before, I’m focused on this season right now. … I treat every season as a special season, and this season is no different regardless of if I’m a free agent next year or not.”

And at times, Ohtani tried to make light of the topic he understood he couldn’t avoid. Asked if he has gotten recruiting pitches from players on other teams, Ohtani smiled. 

“Going to keep that a secret,” he said.

And asked about a report that he seriously considered the Cubs when he signed with the Angels, he said, “I don’t think you should believe everything you read.”

As Ohtani spoke sitting at a raised table, he sat wedged between Houston’s Kyle Tucker and Cleveland’s Jose Ramirez. At one point, Tucker had no one in front of him and looked over in apparent bemusement at the crowd around Ohtani.

Ohtani could have been further in the spotlight Monday had he decided to take part in the Home Run Derby — he leads MLB with 32 homers, 17 coming in his last 34 games. It’s something he has done only once, losing in the first round to Juan Soto.

Ohtani said he was asked to participate but declined in part due to having suffered a blister on his right middle finger.

“I did, obviously, think about it and I was asked,” he said. “It was an honor to be asked. But with all the other things going on and like with my finger having to leave the game early, I just wanted to focus on the hitting side and do my job as a DH in the All-Star Game.”

Ohtani is slated to hit second in the AL lineup in Tuesday’s game.

He’ll then return to his regular duties with the Angels, which includes one more trip to Seattle for a three-game series Sept. 11-13. 

And then he’ll eventually head into an offseason that will be dominated by the question of his future, with Mariners fans harboring hope that maybe he’ll grow so comfortable in the Seattle clubhouse this week he’ll decide to set up residence there someday.