TL;DR - Scouting Report
Jack Flaherty shares stories about Shohei Ohtani’s Dodgers life, from tequila shots at the parade to team dinners and what makes Ohtani the ultimate superstar.
Start the Rally: Tweet This Now!Jack Flaherty opened up about his free agency and a return to the Dodgers, his thoughts on the trash talking situation with Manny Machado in the NLDS and the World Series Parade celebration and who was the most intoxicated Dodger.
He also talked a bit about arguably the world’s most popular baseball player, Shohei Ohtani – shedding some light on what life is like behind the scenes with the $700 million man.
Flaherty on convincing Ohtani to take a shot at the World Series Championship Parade:
“No (it’s not the first time I’ve seen him drink before), so that’s the thing. So after every series that we won, we would take a tequila shot as a team. I was always next to Sho (Shohei Ohtani) and we would take our tequila shot together. It took a lot of convincing that day (the Dodgers World Series celebration parade) to do it and eventually he finally did it.”
Flaherty on the playing with Ohtani:
“He’s way bigger than you think. We’ve got him, we’ve got Mookie (Betts), we’ve got Freddie (Freeman); then you see the other guys from around the league. When the ball comes off his bat in game – every single one of his home runs was like a no doubt. The ball sounds differently coming off of his bat, and even his outs. Every single out he has, he hits the ball hard. That’s what’s different. He hits the ball so hard. He hits the ball harder than anybody.”
Flaherty on what Ohtani is like behind the scenes:
“He’s as chill as they come, speaks really good English, which is impressive for the amount of work he’s put in since he’s been over here. He’s somebody that, even during games, he’s never nervous. I asked him before Game 1 of the first playoff game, ‘hey Sho, are you nervous?’ and he goes ‘no, no, and then he points to Yamamoto, who’s pitching that game and he goes, ‘him, he nervous. You pitchers are nervous. I’m not.'”
Flaherty on Ohtani picking up the team dinner tab:
“We did a dinner in New York during the Mets series. It happened to be my birthday, but it was a team dinner that we were doing and Sho and (Yoshinobu) Yamamoto both came. He didn’t come to one where we played the Yankees because he just dislocated his shoulder. But he picked up the tab when we went to New York.”
See the full interview on Run it Back below:
Your Turn: If you could have dinner anywhere with Shohei Ohtani, and he’s picking up the tab, where do you pick and what do you order? Tell us below in the comments!
