We already know that Los Angeles Angels two-way star Shohei Ohtani is a special talent. As a hitter, he has a .974 OPS and a 0.47 ERA as a pitcher in the early portion of the season. He’s ridiculous.
He’s also the rare player who can make an umpire smile after being proven wrong. We saw that on Tuesday..
During the fifth inning of the Angels’ game against the Washington Nationals, home plate umpire Alfonso Marquez noticed something underneath Ohtani’s sleeve and approached the mound to investigate. You could tell that Marquez didn’t want to be the one to eject Ohtani for a foreign-substance violation, so he was visibly happy to see that the object under Ohtani’s sleeve was the PitchCom device.
An ump tried to bust Shohei Ohtani for foreign substances under his armpit but it turns out that’s just where he keeps his PitchCom device pic.twitter.com/WDe7z0W8ep
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) April 12, 2023
I mean, look at that reaction. Marquez appeared to say something like, “Ohhh, I’m sorry!” And then went on to explain to Ohtani that everything was fine.
The PitchCom device is used to relay pitch calls between the pitcher and catcher, so it’s totally legal for Ohtani to have it on him. The placement just threw Marquez off as it’s usually on a belt or wristband for catchers.
Ohtani went on to pitch seven innings of scoreless, one-hit baseball in the Angels’ 2-0 win.
MLB fans particularly enjoyed that interaction from the Angels star as well.
This was how Twitter reacted
Nice to at least see an umpire apologize instead of double down to prove he was right https://t.co/x62hvdBJdw
— John Sucich (@jsucich) April 12, 2023
umpire reaction is hysterical 😂😂 https://t.co/dfSv8zREgM
— Paul Francis (@heynowonefour) April 12, 2023
Mans was so impressed 😂 https://t.co/puZ2s0kWZ0
— Ray Darko (@Ray_Darko) April 12, 2023
Everything this man does is downright adorable. https://t.co/ZvEaAttald
— Mbappé Better (@THEBASEDMARTYR) April 12, 2023
Apologized and took responsibility Good on the ump https://t.co/CDHFW4PK00
— Dre 𓀂 (@andreasbrejon) April 12, 2023
He’s just doing his job tbh and he did apologize and went about his business once he realized. https://t.co/kvBlhJIVnR
— x — 2nd round aspirations (@nahcmo) April 12, 2023
Ump said “ohhhhh I’m sorry” and laughed it off and took blame give this man a raise immediately https://t.co/zhUW78nO0C
— 2021 World Champion (@ParksBuchanan) April 12, 2023
Shohei would never cheat. He’s too honest https://t.co/o4p5hWeZOc
— x- Michael (@JumboDonutFGC) April 12, 2023
Never ever doubt the 🐐 https://t.co/4xWtYP2j1f
— Sho13 (@June13Man) April 12, 2023
