“Contributes to Harming Baseball” – What did Stephen A Smith Say About Shohei Ohtani And His Language Barrier?

We have come far in our dialogue about being divisive. We are far from the days when xenophobia reigned and slurs were rampant. But every now and again we still see brief looks at what may be manifestations of that into our society. We still see new incidents that come to light which bring forth this sort of understanding in our society. And in the July of 2021, we saw another such instance. Stephen A Smith took to saying on broadcast, that a non-english speaker dominating the sport of baseball, As Shohei Ohtani was, could somehow be harmful for it.  Having since apologized for it, we take a look back at the incidence.

Stephen A Smith,is an American sportscaster who has his own show on the ESPN network. On one of his broadcasts last this past July, he expressed some controversial views. He stated that it was his belief that Major League Baseball did not do well if it’s top performer requires an interpreter to speak the language. Receiving almost instant backlash, Stephen A, as he is commonly known, recanted his statement and apologized for the hurt he had caused to the Asian- community. We look at what he had to say and what the case was that he was making out.

Stephen A and his case for the statement

Stephen A came out to say that he did not think major league baseball could do well with someone like Ohtani as it’s public face. He acknowledged the stats that Ohtani bought to the table. He even acknowledged that on a skill level this is not something we have seen before. But he maintained that the superstar-dom of a foreign player could not be good for the league.

In the words of Stephen A, “The fact that you got a foreign player that doesn’t speak English, that needs an interpreter”; indicating toward Ohtani who doesn’t yet speak English publicly, “contributes to harming the game to some degree”. Going on to make his point he indicated that it could be harmful “if a player like that was your box office appeal.”

Stephen A would much rather that a player like Bryce Harper or Mike Trout be the face of the league. Going into some more detail, Stephen A spoke about how the Home-Run competition between Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire had kept the league alive in the early 90s and how McGwire really propelled the popularity of the league then. However, there remains a counterpoint.

And even though Stephen A almost immediately apologized, his statements still remain on the record.

Read More: MLB the Show 2022- Shohei Ohtani Chosen as Cover Athlete by Fans!

The Argument against Stephen A’s statements about Shohei Ohtani

The nature of sport is to unite. And while the MLB is largely catered to an American market, it is going international too.  If it is the object of baseball to grow, then it makes sense for the star to be someone who can appeal to several audiences. And if in doing so they require an interpreter, the question must be asked, so what?

English is not a qualifier for baseball ability and even if it was, Shohei Ohtani has surely crushed all possible metrics in that respect. Ohtani’s unanimous AL MVP season in 2021 encompassed some mind boggling stats.  He hit 46 homeruns and was the league leader in triples as a power hitter. His .965 OPS and 26 stolen bases add to his already impressive tally. This would have been a notable collection as is, but add to that, Ohtani pitched too.

He compiled 130 1/3 innings on the mound, and boasted a 3.18 ERA with 156 strikeouts and 44 walks. And among those with at least 120 innings in 2021, Ohtani ranked within the top 14% in strikeout percentage. These stats and his play style are bound to attract people to the league to watch. And it’s unlikely that the language hurdle will be significant for them to overcome.

Ohtani is a generational talent. And if we can just look past the smallest of hurdles we will perhaps be able to see why Ohtani is a top performer in the league right now.