When Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani announced his marriage last week, television stations in Japan broke into their programming to report the news. Newspapers distributed special editions. Women took the day off work to mourn the death of Ohtani’s bachelorhood.
James Outman isn’t looking for that kind of fame. But he thinks it might be fun to star in a commercial for a Japanese candy company.
“The market has grown, so understanding how to utilize that could be important for your brand,” says the Dodgers center fielder. “But I think the goal of being famous isn’t really a good goal.”
Still, with the addition of Ohtani and righthander Yoshinobu Yamamoto—himself a star—to the Los Angeles roster this year has come an opportunity for their teammates. Dozens of Japanese reporters follow their every move, filming each moment of Dodgers spring training and breathlessly conveying updates to an adoring public. And in some of those shots will be righty Michael Grove.
“I’m trying to get in the background of one,” he says. So far, no luck—“We’re on different schedules”—but he is considering trying to learn a joke in Japanese while the cameras are on. “I’ll have no idea what I said,” he says, “But I’ll smile.”
Indeed, that’s about all it took for utilityman Tyler Wade in 2022, when he was Ohtani’s teammate with the Los Angeles Angels. He showed up in a few photos and suddenly became a heartthrob; Ohtani began referring to him as “ikemen,” which means “hot guy.”
Joe Camporeale/USA TODAY Sports
Who will be the Dodgers’ hot guy? A dozen Dodgers weighed in, and a few common themes emerged. Some believed fans would fall in love with players’ personalities. Some went straight for looks. And a few thought performance might matter.
Yamamoto, who ought to know, says reliever Brusdar Graterol will be a hit. “He’s funny,” Yamamoto says through interpreter Yoshihiro Sonoda.
Reliever Joe Kelly has a shot, after his wife, Ashley, publicly offered Ohtani Kelly’s No. 17 if he signed there, and after Ohtani thanked the couple by buying Ashley a Porsche. So does reliever Ryan Brasier, who spent 2017 pitching for the Hiroshima Carp.
Outman’s pick is left fielder Teoscar Hernández: “He gets along with Shohei so well,” Outman says. “They’re always goofing around. He’s teaching him Spanish, Shohei’s teaching him Japanese.” The stories write themselves.
But photos tell a story, too.
“It’s not a bad-looking room,” says third baseman Max Muncy. “But I don’t think I’m at the top of that list.”
A day later, posed the same question, utilityman Kiké Hernández shakes his head. “Definitely not Muncy,” he says.
Hernández himself is manager Dave Roberts’s pick: “Kiké’s gonna find his way next to Shohei quite often,” he says. But Hernández casts his eyes around the room, then beams when he reaches the locker of righty Tyler Glasnow.
“He’s like a sex god,” says Hernández. “Big, tall dude, long hair.”
Glasnow and Outman are the most popular answers. Both have celebrity doppelgangers—even actor Cillian Murphy has commented on his resemblance to Glasnow, and both reliever Evan Phillips and shortstop Gavin Lux point out that Outman looks a bit like Kit Harrington, who played Jon Snow in Game of Thrones—and luscious locks.
(Lux insists he himself has no shot unless he grows out his own hair. “It’s way too short,” he says.)
Mark J. Rebilas/USA TODAY Sports
Outman is looking forward to that candy deal, and Glasnow says that sushi is one of his favorite foods, and he’d like to try to find a way to parlay that into something. “An omakase-style thing,” he says. “I don’t know how you endorse that.”
But his pick is second baseman Mookie Betts, who until Ohtani signed was the team’s best player. Several Dodgers also suggest seven-time All-Star first baseman Freddie Freeman, who shakes his head vigorously.
“I don’t want to be famous,” says Freeman, although he admits his 7-year-old son Charlie, an avowed Ohtani fan, might have different goals.
And it will happen whether he wants it to or not. “Everybody pretty much gets some extra fame from being associated with Shohei and Yamamoto,” says Phillips. “That’s gonna do so much good for the Dodgers’ brand. Basically, if a player wants to take advantage of it and grow their brand in an international way, this is the time to do it.”
Betts is an image-conscious athlete—he has his own logo, a deal with Jordan Brand and a marketing company—but he says he is not thinking too hard about his Q score abroad.
“Hopefully after we win a World Series,” he says, “We’re all gonna be famous in Japan.”
