Baseball: Japanese superstar Shohei Ohtani signs record contract with Dodgers

Japanese baseball superstar Shohei Ohtani announced Saturday that he has signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers, signing a record $700 million, 10-year contract, one of the largest in sports history.

The future of the player, whose talent with both bat and pitch has earned him comparisons to the legendary Babe Ruth, has been under scrutiny since the end of the season.

In addition to the Dodgers, of which former Lakers star Magic Johnson is co-owner, several other clubs in the North American Baseball League (MLB), including the New York Yankees and the Chicago Cubs, were in competition to attract the Japanese, who played last year in the other Los Angeles club, the Angels.

“I am committed to always doing what is best for the team and giving my all to always give them the best of myself,” Ohtani said on Instagram, where he announced his choice of join the Dodgers.

His agent Nez Balelo specified in a press release that his contract reached the amount of 700 million dollars over 10 years, the largest ever signed in the history of baseball. “It’s a unique and historic contract, for a unique and historic player,” he commented. Arriving in MLB in 2018, Ohtani has since been voted best player in the American League (one of the two leagues that make up the MLB) in 2021 and 2023, each time unanimously, which had not happened to any other player before him.

However, elbow injuries have handicapped him in recent months, preventing him from playing as a pitcher - which he should not be able to do in 2024 either, in order to fully recover.