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Little Leaguer completely savaged Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani with wild story in interview

Not a good look for Sho.
Emma Lingan
Emma Lingan

Dodgers Way

Los Angeles Dodgers v Los Angeles Angels / Harry How/GettyImages

Never meet meet your heroes, they say – especially if that hero is Shohei Ohtani.

During ESPN's "KidsCast" of Sunday's Little League Classic between the Seattle Mariners and the New York Mets – an alternate presentation of the game on ESPN2 featuring commentary from an all-youth broadcast team – one of the young players on Australia's Little League World Series team shared a less-than-flattering anecdote about the Los Angeles Dodgers' two-way superstar.

Monica Arcuri of Brisbane shared on the broadcast that she had traveled to Anaheim in 2023 to see the Los Angeles Angels play against the Toronto Blue Jays. There, she saw Ohtani – then a member of the Angels – hit a home run off Blue Jays pitcher Yusei Kikuchi.

“He hit a home run into an area where the fans couldn’t go, and then this guy got the ball and gave it to my brother,” Arcuri explained. “So the next day, we went to the VIP box at the front and I asked for his signature, but all he gave me was a side eye and not a nice glance. So after that, I’ve never liked him ever since. He’s not really humble. Not my style.”

Arcuri has made some headlines of her own as the only female among the 20 teams competing at the Little League World Series. She is just the 24th female to play in the tournament's 86-year history and just the 11th ever to record a base hit.

Little Leaguer completely savaged Dodgers' Ohtani with wild story in interview

Arcuri's encounter with Ohtani happened in 2023, his last season with the Angels before he signed a 10-year, $700 million contract with the Dodgers. Even though he didn't pitch last season while recovering from Tommy John surgery, Ohtani still helped lead the Dodgers to a World Series victory and won the National League MVP award.

Unfortunately, this isn't the only bad press that Ohtani has gotten of late. He recently made headlines when he and his agent, Nez Balelo, were sued by a Hawaii real estate investor and broker for allegedly sabotaging a $240 million luxury housing development on the Hapuna Coast.

Arcuri's comments also come just months before Ohtani plans to release his first book – a children's book – in February. Perhaps he should send her a signed copy; after all, it's the least he could do if this story is true.

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Emma Lingan

Emma Lingan

Emma Lingan is an MLB Staff Writer for FanSided primarily covering the Pittsburgh Pirates. She has been covering baseball for more than a decade dating back to her time as a student at Wake Forest University, and she has won two gold medals as a member of the U.S. National Team delegation (2016 Pan-American Championships & 2017 World Baseball Classic). A native of Washington, D.C. and current resident of Nashville, Tenn., she is also entering her seventh season as a credentialed NHL media member and currently covers the NHL’s Nashville Predators for The Hockey News. When she's not watching hockey, baseball or football, she enjoys podcasting, reading, going to the gym, consuming large amounts of coffee and taking long walks with her dog, Minkah. You can follow her @Emma_lingan on Twitter and Instagram.