Shohei Ohtani’s time in Major League Baseball continues to rise and he is establishing himself as one of the best players in the history of the game. Even his manager with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Dave Roberts, has not seen another like the Japanese since he played in the same era as Barry Bonds.
In continuation with his opinion on Ohtani‘s career in MLB, Roberts addressed the issue during an episode of The Herd on Fox Sports, and was asked by host Colin Cowherd about how he handles the challenge of managing a star like the Japanese, who is under his command from the 2024 season.
“The first thing is to try not to interfere as much as possible and not to intervene. That’s the first thing. But I also think you have to treat these guys like everyone else,” Roberts said, adding: “I think they really make sure they don’t try to treat them differently, but there is a difference in the sense of what they’ve earned, right?”
The comparison of Ohtani with LeBron James and Tiger Woods
In the talk, the point was also made about a comparison of Ohtani with sports figures such as LeBron James and Tiger Woods, who like the Japanese two-way star, exceeded the expectations they generated.
“In general, I treat him like any other person. But Colin, yes, I agree. It’s just like Tiger, what he did. You know, LeBron, the expectation. And now you’re talking about Shohei on a global level. He’s really the only player I’ve seen that’s been a game changer in baseball,” said Dave Roberts to reinforce his admiration for Shohei.
Ohtani’s numbers in the 2025 season have him hitting .305 and after the pair of home runs he hit on his bobblehead night, he reached 16, with 29 RBIs and an OPS of 1.071, and Roberts is increasingly impressed with his player’s performance.
“It’s comical. Really. I think his home runs on his bobblehead night, and I would say his on-base plus slugging, his OPS with the bobblehead is probably 2000. It seems like he always hits home runs. No, but Colin, it’s amazing,” said Roberts.
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