Grading Ohtani’s Explanation: ‘I Would Give It an A’

There are still plenty of questions surrounding Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani after he finally spoke about the ongoing betting scandal involving his former translator, Ippei Mizuhara, on Monday afternoon. But the first step of addressing the elephant in the room is out of the way, and Mike Paul, a public relations and reputation management consultant, joined the Front Office Sports Today podcast to break down his takeaways from Ohtani’s press conference.

Here are some of Paul’s biggest thoughts on Ohtani’s strategy:

• Rapid reaction: “If I had to grade this press conference, this controlled press conference, without knowing the details of it being an alleged crime, I would have given it a lower grade. But because we know that it is an alleged crime, a very serious crime, I would give it an A.”
• The reach of Ohtani: “He’s a global figure. The story’s gonna be even bigger [abroad] than it is here, I predict. And it’s important for the legal team, as well as the public relations and branding teams, to keep on top of every twist and turn.”

• What’s the truth? “Ohtani said that when [Mizuhara] was asked the question to explain what had happened, he didn’t translate that for him. I find that fascinating. It’s the reason why we had two different answers. One that was from the translator and now one that’s from him. The truth versus the lies. And someone manipulating and taking advantage of your inability to speak English to communicate one message to some and another to you.”
• How did this happen? “If [Mizuhara] was properly vetted, someone would have learned that he likes to gamble. And that obviously did not come up, at least from what we know today, in any vetting of any kind.”

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