Teammate shares daily details about Shohei Ohtani: picking up trash during games highlights his character charm

Every action of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Japanese two-way star Shohei Ohtani attracts attention. On a YouTube program on the 12th, teammate Max Muncy revealed Ohtani’s everyday behavior, describing him as a player who casually picks up litter during matches: “This reveals the kind of person he truly is.”

Ohtani has always followed the teaching of his former coach at Hanamaki Higashi High School, Hiroshi Sasaki, who said, “Trash is luck thrown away by others; picking it up is taking in good fortune.” Since joining professional baseball, he has never stopped this habit. Even the brand he endorses, Ito En, promoted a social campaign called “Let’s Pick Up Trash” during the Dodgers vs. Chicago Cubs Tokyo Opening Series at the Tokyo Dome, encouraging trash cleaning and sorting to help spread this idea further.

On the YouTube show “Talk Dodgers to Me,” Muncy mentioned Ohtani’s habit of voluntarily picking up trash on the ground. He said, “That’s actually a kind of cultural difference. But at the same time, it shows what kind of person he is.”

He also recalled a memorable moment from the 2024 season. Catcher Will Smith spat out his chewed gum in the dugout and threw it onto the field. This made Ohtani look twice. The clip quickly went viral on social media. Muncy remembered, “Shohei glanced sideways with an expression like, ‘What on earth are you doing?’” He added with a laugh, “That’s one of my favorite moments I’ve ever seen.”

Muncy further pointed out, “When we later went to Tokyo and watched that clip again, we understood Ohtani’s reaction even more.”