Who is Ippei Mizuhara the friend and former interpreter of Shohei Ohtani?

Though details are still continuing to emerge, what we do know is that a significant amount of money was taken by the man who baseball fans have regularly seen at Shohei Ohtani’s side. The question is, ‘just who is Ippei Mizuhara’ and how did he do what he did?

A look at Ippei Mizuhara

By now baseball fans will undoubtedly have seen multiple reports confirming that Shohei Ohtani’s long-time friend and interpreter, Ippei Muzuhara, was fired after being accused of stealing money from the Dodgers superstar to pay an illegal bookmaker in California. Conversely, Mizuhara himself has since declared that Ohtani had willingly paid off his debts which were said to be in excess of $4.5 million. At this point, details remain scarce but Ohtani himself has since denied any knowledge of Mizuhara’s dealings and made it abundantly clear that he was the unknowing victim of his friend’s scheme. As always, context is key and with that in mind, it’s important to understand just who Ippe Mizuhara is. So, here is what we know.

Though he was born in Japan, Ippei Mizuhara actually grew up in California after his father moved to the United States for work. In 2007, the 39-year-old was hired by the Boston Red Sox to serve as an interpreter for pitcher Hideki Okajima, who played with the team until 2011. Just two years later in 2013, Mizuhara met Ohtani while serving as the interpreter for the English-speaking players on the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters in the Nippon Professional Baseball League. “I’ve known Shohei since he was 18, and when I first saw him, I was like, ‘Oh, my God, this guy’s unreal,’” Mizuhara was quoted as saying in Sports Illustrated in 2021.

Naturally, when Ohtani made the move to MLB and signed with the Angels in 2017, he brought Mizuhara along with him as his interpreter. “They’ve transcended friendship into brotherhood, truly. It sounds dumb, but it’s true,” then-Angels first baseman Jared Walsh told ESPN in 2023. Indeed, that was an idea that was emphasized during the 2021-22 lockout when MLB employees were not allowed to communicate with players. To that end, Mizuhara quit his job with the team so that he could remain in contact with Ohtani. Incidentally, he was re-hired after the lockout ended.

From serving as Ohtani’s catcher in the 2021 Home Run Derby to collecting his groceries during lengthy injury periods in 2019 and 2020, it’s clear that Mizuhara was more to Ohtani than just an interpreter. As you can probably guess, Mizuhara once again followed Ohtani to the Los Angeles Dodgers when the two-way star left the Angels in a blockbuster trade this past offseason. At this point, it remains unclear what the next step will be in this developing situation, but by all indications, Shohei Ohtani has likely lost more than just money.